


Soul's New Resonance

by Scarlet_Rosen



Category: Soul Eater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-03-17 05:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3516821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlet_Rosen/pseuds/Scarlet_Rosen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maka and Soul go through a difficult battle and Maka refuses to use Soul as a shield when the opponent can hurt him. In the end things don't look good.<br/>There's a girl no one knows at the DWMA and she is smoking, though she also seems a bit confused,<br/>What will Happen?</p><p>Disclaimer: I do not own the Soul Eater series. Please support the official release!</p><p>On Hiatus until inspiration strikes for a continuation. The rest may end up co-authored or it may end up getting a simple ending</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Souls New Begining

Chapter 1

Soul's New Beginning

 

            Soul and Maka were battling a strong opponent getting closer to turning Soul into a death scythe but this opponent was able to hurt soul while in his weapon form and with one blow had Soul spitting up blood. Maka having fallen in love with soul stopped using him for a shield and rather only used him to get a direct hit pulling him away whenever he had the chance of getting hurt. They managed to defeat this Keshin Egg however the price was too high for Soul. Maka received a fatal blow at the same time that she delivered one on their horrible opponent. She lays there and soul transforms back swooping his love and his meister into his arms screaming and crying.

            "Maka! No you can't be dead, you can't leave me! I won't let you! If you're gone then I'm gone to got it?! So you have to stay. Please! Maka!" Soul cries and his friend Death the Kid shows up. He is starting to do his job as a grim reaper and is retrieving the souls of those good humans who die on top of his work as a student at the DWMA.

            "Soul, she's gone. There's nothing that can be done. She gave herself for the greater good, and died a hero. She'll be safe now I promise, I would never allow her to be anywhere but the most peaceful afterlife. But I have to take her soul now before some monster takes her," Kid is being as gentle as he can with his friend. He cared for Maka as well but it's hard to console someone when you are taking the soul of the one they cherished and still have your love.

            "Shut up Kid! You're lying! She can't be dead. She can't be..." he let the end trail  off as he got quieter and sobbed over her body.

            "Come on Soul lets at least get her to the Academy. Her dad deserves to hear it from you. And then maybe you'll let me bring her to peace," Kid places his hand on Souls shoulder. Soul barely nods and stands up clutching Maka to him not letting her out of his sight. He gets on his bike and holds her firmly and drives slowly as if she were just injured and fragile.

            Upon arriving at the Academy Death Scythe runs out to the yelling and crying. And so does Maka's mom who was going to surprise her daughter for her upcoming birthday. Her parents ran to them and Kid was still in his reaper garb. Soul stands and then collapses to his knees holding her crying even harder because her parents seem to be accepting what Kid told him simply from seeing her.

            "What happened? Kid, how'd Maka get hurt?" Death Scythe asks and Kid gently places a hand on Souls shoulder.

            "I wasn't there. All I know is that I showed up, called to retrieve a lost good soul and see Maka in Soul's arms. Soul was distraught. He can't seem to come to terms with her death and because of that her soul won't leave her body until Soul accepts it. She wants to be as alive as possible for as long as she can to help him cope. I wish I was as strong as my father he could call her soul to be able to have a conversation with her loved ones and say goodbye," Kid looks up at Death Scythe. "We need to get them to my father in person."

            "Kid your father is still hardly ever corporeal ever since you began doing all the soul collecting he doesn't need to exit his mirrors to accept souls from us anymore," Death Scythe responds.

            "But if a spirit resists exiting their body then he has to help me. I have to get them to the death room and allow them to say goodbye or she'll be stuck like this until her soul no longer exists," Kid looks at Maka's father with strong conviction.

            "Got it. Hey punk how about you listen to him and bring Maka to the death room so you don't cause her soul to be gone forever you idiot. Or is that what you want, for my beautiful Maka to be forced to stay in her dead body and disappear for good? Huh punk. Is it your plan to let her go like that? By making her suffer until she's finally gone?" Death Scythe provokes Soul like he has for years.

            "Shut up old man! Of course I don't want Maka to suffer. But how can I say goodbye to the love of my life?! The one girl who could ever calm me or keep my ego in check! The one girl who I would play for if she asked, when she asked. It's not fair! I should be the one that's dead not her! I'm the weapon, it's my job to protect her not the other way around! Why Maka?! Why?!" Soul yells out and Black Star comes out. He's the only one who can calm him down now.

            "Come on Soul. I'll go with you buddy. But Maka wouldn't want you to get hurt, and she wouldn't want you to cry this much over her death. If she died she died cool right? So why don't we take Kid up on his offer and go say goodbye to her so she can leave knowing you had your closure and she can rest in peace. You know she's going somewhere with plenty of her nerdy books and with a piano just waiting for when the time is right," Black Star consoles him. "We need to let her go man. Come on."

            Soul stands still holding Maka close and walks to the death room staring at Maka's face. She was so peaceful. When they got to the death room Kid called out to his dad in another way. A way that signifies a reaper situation. He immediately responds in corporeal form.

            "What is it Kid? What's wrong? You haven't need help for years," Lord death checks his son but then notices Soul and Maka. "Oh I see. That's the problem."

            "Do you think you could help dad?" Kid asks his father and looks at his friends with nothing but sadness hidden behind his mask.

            "Of course son. You need this as much as the others go ahead and take off your cloak and mask. I'll take care of her," Lord Death then walks over to Maka and places a hand on her body. He takes in a deep breath and then slowly lifts his hand forcing her soul to exit, but he gives her temporary form rather than taking her. "Go ahead Maka. It's time for you to say your goodbyes."

            "Soul. I'm so sorry but I couldn't use you to shield me when one strike had hurt you so much. I was a fool as a first year to let you get hurt so often and I wasn't about to let you die protecting me. So when I could I took a strike but I often was forced to pull you back and take the attack. I love you too much to let you die. Carry on both of our dreams and become a death scythe stronger than my papa. I could never carry on the dream for both of us but you could. Find yourself another Meister and make sure to treat them with the same care as you treat me. I couldn't bear it if you showed up where I'm going alone or even soon. I love you and that's why I'm willing to let you go. Mama, Papa, I know I didn't say this enough to either of you but I always did love you too. I hope you can understand my leaving. Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid Liz, Patty, I'll miss you all please make sure Soul doesn't give up on himself or on life. It's all of your jobs, including Soul, to live for me as well. Farewell all of you. It's time I must go. Soul don't let Blair get the best of you, stay strong and find someone better than her. Goodbye, everyone. I'll watch over all of you I promise," Maka smiles and then follows Lord death through his mirror. Soul falls to his knees crying for the loss of his love. He knows he can't give up on being a death scythe for Maka's sake. But it will be a long time before he can trust again, before he can care, before he can love.

 

 

            Later that day the first years arrive, all partner less, and all eager to learn. But among them one girl stood out above them all. She was a rather short girl barely reaching five feet, she had the longest most luxurious mahogany brown hair, and skin as silky smooth and white as ivory. She had a chest size that surpassed some of the most boisterous adult woman and could rival that of the cat Blair. She walked onto the campus in her red dress with a black ribbon tied in a bow for a belt and black leather boots, carrying books that appear to be of some of the highest reading levels. She has sunglasses that black the sun out to her so she can see. Her purse hangs across her body and is black leather. She is the very definition of beauty, of womanliness, of intelligence, of rich. But no one knew who she was. She followed the crowd umbrella in hand to keep the sun from burning her pure white skin and ruining her complexion. Many wondered where her servants were if she looked like that, though most simply wondered who she was and where she came from.

            "Are you miss Scarlet? The late entry to our roster?" A school official asked her and she turned around to look at her. The boys around her fainting.

            "Yes, I'm Scarlet Rosen. Can I know why I was told to come to this school? I'm not even sure what this is about and would like to be able to graduate high school on time," I replied. Yeah that's right the beauty is me. But if I'm honest I don't see anything good about me other than my boobs. Nothing else is all that appealing, I just described myself as others had in the past, but moving on.

            "I'm afraid only the headmaster Lord Death can answer that I'm not at liberty to tell," the official replies.

            "Okay so what do you need?" I ask her.

            "I'm here to take you to Lord Death and to meet some of the best teams and upperclassmen here. These upper classmen recently just lost someone close to them and as they worked as a team with her are being sent back to the beginning to find a new partner," The official responds. Immediately there is shouting because everyone who applied to this school knows who he is talking about. Soul Eater Evans, Maka Albarn, Death the Kid, Liz Thompson, Patty Thompson, Black Star, and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, the team that ended up defeating the Keshin. The strongest team to ever be enrolled here at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, they had yet to graduate when Maka Albarn had her tragic death and as she was their leader they must find someone new and start over. All the new students who had applied heard of Maka's death this morning and were hoping they would get to be the new team member. But this random girl is being asked to meet them.

            "Okay, I guess I should go meet these people then. Perhaps they can give me some answers," I mumble.

            "Right. Well then if you'll follow me I'll take you to the Death Room," the official tells me.

            "You mean the office?" I ask confused.

            "Sure kid whatever floats your boat," they were starting to get annoyed with me. Well I'm getting annoyed too. Annoyed that I'm not getting any answers.

            After a little while we come to a room labeled Death Room. I thought it rather strange that they would call the office this but who am I to complain when I accepted going to a school called Death Weapon Meister Academy. Whatever that was about. The school official knocked and we were answered by the strangest voice ever.

            "Yes?" it responded.

            "It's Azusa Yumi bringing Miss Scarlet Rosen to see Lord Death and the Soul Eater team," the official responds.

            "Please come in," I realize it was an intercom and when the door opens I follow her and find myself in the strangest hallway ever.

            "Are those real blades?" I asked unable to move.

            "Yes now keep moving they won't fall, they're suspended in time," she seems to be short tempered so I slowly and carefully follow her down the rather long corridor into a large room.

            "Thank you Azusa. Sorry to trouble you but I thought you'd be the least scary option when she doesn't know anything about the school," A man in all black and a strange white skull mask tells the official.

            "And Marie wouldn't have been easier Lord Death?" she asks folding her arms.

            "She's too over bearing especially when you aren't sure where you even are. This girl is different than most and that's why I have taken great care and had planned this meeting long ago, though for different reasons," the guy she referred to as Lord Death responds.

            "Whatever the girl has promise. She didn't cower when I gave her my glare," Azusa tells him. I cock my head to my side.

            "You glared? When I didn't see any glare," I say.

            "You what? It was right when you questioned me calling it the Death room. I glared right at you," she says dumb founded.

            I snort. "You call that a glare. You should see me when I get angry enough. Everyone fears being on my list. No your glare is more of a grimace," I retort not realizing it was scary to many.

            "You think of her glare as a grimace? But it's so scary," some red headed guys says doing this weird wiggling thing.

            "No it's not," I reply honestly.

            "Tch. She's nothing but a little girl why did you want us to meet her Lord Death," a guy with white hair who seemed close to my age asked.  
            "Soul I wouldn't if I were you that's a touchy subject with her," Lord Death tries.

            "And what's up with that un-proportional body. Don't worry sweetheart I'm sure you'll grow into it eventually you can't be any older than what, twelve, thirteen? You're a waste of our time. come bother us again and re-enroll when you can actually do something," he continues.

            I was clutching my books and my umbrella to both keep from crying and keep from blowing up at him. I pull out my phone and check for cell service. I have full bars and it's not wavering. One more comment and everyone I had hiding in the shadows for me will come out to take care of this for me. I look up at the asshole who had the audacity to insult my size, my age, and the one thing about myself I actually like. My glare is enough to paralyze them all even the idiot shut up though he still has a smug look on his face. My face can be really scary if I work hard enough and that's just what I'm doing.

            "Say that again asshole. Go ahead and try saying something like that again and see what happens. Who knows maybe you'll upset me enough that I won't need my phone," I bite out through gritted teeth.

            "What? That you're nothing but a little baby with an abnormal chest who should run home to mommy and come back when she's older. I'll say it as much as you want sweetie I'm not changing my mind," why that arrogant bastard.

            "Don't say I didn't warn you," I smirk and scream at the top of my lungs a scream worthy of a battle cry and yet of a damsel. I pull out my phone and text for good measure.

            "No need for all the yelling Scar we are right here. We saw and heard the warning you gave him. What do you want us to do with the punk ass," my friend Ashton asks me he leads a group of assassins that work for me and the group is also mostly my friends.

            "Just get him in a painful position that he won't talk back to me in and I'll let him decide if he wants to try saying anything else after I tell him what I need to. If he does. Do what you please," I sneer at him and let the men grab hold of him. He tries to put up a fight and his friends join too but it doesn't matter. Though some of them turned to weapons which freaked me out that ass was subdued before he could put up much resistance and the others were bound and gagged. "I may feel sorry about the loss of someone you were close to but that doesn't mean that I'll just sit here and take your insults. My friends created an assassins league just to protect me and they agree that you went too far. I have spent every fucking day of my life being made fun of for my size and my brain. I had some money though and as I got older that amount only increased. Then I got picked on for moving and being "New Money" when my family was considered rich. My school segregated it's students by religion essentially even if the actual school didn't do it the students did. I've been beaten and battered for years before finding these friends who thought that treatment was unacceptable. Then some weird crap starts happening to me and all of my friends keep getting power boosts when I'm upset. Of course I got picked on more for being different and they started taking care of those who did things to me. I can here to a new school be a personal request from its headmaster who by the way didn't look like that..." I was suddenly cut off. One of the others got their gag out.

            "Wait you got out of town dad? But how?" the dark haired boy with three white striped in his hair asked.

            "She lived in this towns parallel so I was still technically in town. Though I took off my cloak and mask when I went to invite her to the school. But more important question how did these boys follow you Isent you though a portal. They shouldn't have been able to follow you,"  Lord Death asks slowly removing his cloak and mask so I can see it is him.

            "Nice try Lord Death but we're from this world. We were already an assassins league we just found a reason to assassinate again after meeting her. We're part of the Star Clan, we broke off and stopped taking on the tattoo's after leaving this world. Anyone you deem able to cross through the portal and anyone on the other side originally from this realm may cross, therefore we were able to cross. Our clan went out of control and that's why we left. Now we work not for riches but for the sake of another. Black Star I presume you are one of our clan and we'd be happy to welcome you but you'd have to help us keep her safe from threats no matter who or what they may be," Ashton replies. "After all you and I are cousins."

            "Wait what? I thought we took out all but Black Star of your Clan when they were causing such a riot. Well no matter we can take you back and let you roam free given that you actually do follow a different path than the past," Lord Death says when Ashton begins to glare.

            "If you'll excuse me I was talking," I roll my eyes at all these men.

            "I'm sorry malady please continue," Ashton bows a bit forcing soul to bow as well just to avoid pain.

            "As I was saying I was personally invited by the headmaster to come to this school when I'm already a second year at my old school. I was a Junior and yet I was asked to change schools and then I was told I would get explanations and introductions when I got to this room and instead I get a man insulting my size and the one thing I have ever had confidence about before now. I'm expected to just sit back and take this because you are supposedly an upperclassman. I am sixteen, almost seventeen and I'm being insulted by you in such a manner that I'm honestly not sure whether to cry or scream again because it's already hard enough to be stressed out due to a new school and having a disease but then I find that I get insulted upon arrival as well," I turn my head after finally finishing what I had to say and he stopped fighting at some point in that rant.

            "You're right. I'm sorry. Maka," he pauses and takes in a deep shuddering breath. "Maka was the love of my life and it was my job to protect her but I couldn't and she ended up dying because of it. You're very beautiful but I am having a hard time seeing any girl that's new to me when I just lost the one girl that mattered. I'm sure you are normally rather nice and it must be hard to have a disease but doesn't that just meant that this school isn't a good fit for you after all?" His tone softened and I guess it was because of how much I opened up and the fact that I was sickly. I give a gentle nod and Ashton releases him the guys release the others and then come over to me to let me cry on whoever's shoulder I wanted.

            "Actually you'll be happy to know that you aren't diseased. Not really anyways," Lord Death now had a more normal voice and now that I thought about it he did look like his son except with stripes all around his head. "You weren't even meant to grow up in that world. You'll be happy to know that your real family was only on vacation there when your mother went into labor. The girl you were switched with is now a normal girl from your world living in a rather abnormal world. When I found you I thought I should introduce you to this team originally because I wanted them to be your mentors but now it's to see if you are compatible with that big mouthed idiot Soul over there and can be his Meister. We will take this slow but this school isn't like other schools and can be quite dangerous. I'm afraid your friends won't be able to stay with you because we don't have enough space for them. They'll have to stay either in their old village or in a new one leaving the old Star Clan village a relic. Here you will be a first year once again however it will be quite different because the only thing judged here is personality and ability. Everyone is quite open minded. There are about an equal number of the two types of students here. Weapons and Meisters. Weapons are people who turn into some kind of weapon and Meisters are those who wield them. They train and attempt to make a Death Scythe out of their weapons. They can become quite athletic and will collect ninety-nine bad souls and one witches soul to create a Death Scythe. A Death Scythe is one of the most powerful weapons and is used by me or my son if and when he chooses to stop going to school though he better not after all this time, or when he graduates, that better happen. We use these weapons to collect both good and bad souls. The Good souls to help them to move on and the bad souls we take out and take care of. There will be classes befitting you and many other things that you should like about this school. You get to live on your own with your partner and don't live bound by the rules of your parents. Now let's see if you and Soul Eater are compatible or not. Soul transform please," Death does this long winded explanation and them asks Soul to Transform.

            "Yes, Sir," Soul transforms and becomes the coolest Scythe I have ever seen. I reach out and grab him carefully because he's still spinning but he is spinning slowly. Once I grab him I hold him carefully and feel a sense of belonging. Like I was meant to be with this Scythe I'm not sure if Soul could feel it too but I had to find out.

            "Wha-what is this feeling. It's so warm, so pleasant, so right," I breathe out. The warmth seems to fill me up and I can almost feel my disease being taken care of just by holding Soul in Scythe form.

            "I don't know. I've never felt this before. It's like I've never belonged in someone else's hands as a scythe but yours. But how is this possible. Me and Maka were great partners and we even performed Soul Resonance. But this just feels so right," Soul says almost sighing. I begin to collapse from the warmth of it all and he suddenly transforms back and catches me. "I've never transformed so fast in my life except for that one time my first year here."

            "That was amazing," I say out of breath still in Souls arms on the ground.

            "That is what is known as perfect compatibility. It is a very rare and special thing. Only once in your lifetime do you ever have the chance at finding the one you are perfectly capable of resonating with to the point where after your first time together as Meister and Weapon there is no way that you will ever be able to work with another so long as you both live. You instantly become protective of each other and in some occasions grow to love one another. Though in other occasions you find others to love and just work together as partners. However no matter what either of you say now, there is no one else you may partner up with."


	2. Chapter 2: First Day as Partners

Chapter 2

First Day as Partners

 

            We move to a tour of the school and Soul shows me all the places that I need to know about and where our classroom is. Then We go into town after that and he leads me up into his apartment.

            "So um this is where you'll be staying too I guess. Since we're partners. Um I guess that's your room now," He looks pained when he looks at what I assume was Maka's room.

            "Soul I can sleep on the couch for a while okay. You need some time to take care of Maka's things and to heal. I won't blame you far having to live out of a suitcase for a month or so," I say in attempt to comfort him.

            "Thanks Scarlet but I don't want to be rude," Soul says before he's interrupted by some boisterous girl.

            "Oh Scythie! are you home alone now? That means we can be together with no problem no and no one will get in the way. Oh who's this," the girl asks.

            "Blair this is my new partner Scarlet. Scarlet this is a cat with an obscene amount of magical power that likes to mooch off of this household named Blair," Soul says straight faced.

            "I'm sorry but how could you be so insensitive? If you like Soul you should have already known how much he loved Maka and how much this morning would have hurt him. And you acted like it was a good thing. That's cruel and insensitive," I say to Blair heatedly.

            "Scythie do we have to keep her, she's annoying," Blair asks Soul.

            "Yes Blair she is staying here. Keep acting like this and you won't be. I'm not like I was a few years ago Blair I can easily say no to you now. So either shut up or get out. I'm sick of you trying to make me your weapon partner when you're not even a Meister, and I'm sick of you treating other women badly especially my partners. You created enough problems with me and Maka, I'm not letting you create problems between me and Scarlet. Got it?" Soul bites out between gritted teeth.

            "But Scythie," Blair starts before Soul interrupts her.

            "No buts Blair. Either lay off, or leave. I don't care for your trying to drive a wedge between me and my partners," Soul growls.

            "Besides seduction wise you're a little girl compared to me. I'm barely five feet tall, I'm thin, and I have large boobs. Men like women to be shorter than them, you're taller than several men. Men also like girls that are more into the same stuff as them, I prefer not to focus on my underwear but more on my favorite books, TV shows, and movies. Men prefer a girl who is cool with the attention not being on her, who can objectify women like they can or will even objectify themselves at times. You are a needy kitty who wants all the attention on her and will use her body to get it but won't talk too much about her body. I grew up with two older siblings and mostly guys for friends. Now either head Soul's warning or I'll kick you out myself kitten," I say with as much attitude and flair as any woman.

            "UH!" she lets out that girly little noise that happens when they've been insulted. "You little witch. I hope Soul has to eat your soul to turn into a Death Scythe."

            "Cry me a river honey cause I don't seem to be caring. Where I come from witches are cool so thanks for the compliment. However I'm a Meister and therefore he doesn't need my Soul. now zip it, or pack it. I'd say move it or lose it but we're giving you the chance to stay out of the kindness of our hearts. So either take the olive branch we're offering or leave. We're not accepting any compromise here, these are our terms and they're not changing," I put my hands on my hips and Soul just looks at me like I'm a completely different person.

            Blair turns in a huff and walks away Soul keeps staring for a bit before he finally speaks. "Since when are you little miss bossy, bitchy, popular, prep girl?" he asks.

            "Oh. Well you see the family I grew up with move around a lot so I didn't really have friends for a while so instead I watched TV and learned how to speak geek, prep student, popular, bitch, nerd, jock, cheerleader, journalist, normal kid, outcast, and a few other school type 'languages'. Now when I don't feel accepted I tend to put on a mask of myself and make others see me as being completely fine when I really just want to break down in tears. So I put on a different mask for a different crowd. Whenever someone pissed me off or hurt me I'd make them think they just annoyed me and insult them in their 'language' and when I was around people I could talk to they were usually nerds or geeks so I'd speak their 'language.' Honestly I could fit in with any group I wanted if I didn't care about how they acted but just being considered cool," I shrug at the end like it's no big deal.

            "I'm going to have a hard time making sure you're okay aren't I?" Soul asks with a smirk.

            "If you think I'm going to just bear my soul to you every time something's wrong then yeah you're going to have a hard time. But you'll know when it's really bad. If I don't think I can hide my emotions for long then I'll excuse myself to go to the bathroom, and if I cry in front of you or others then you know it's so bad that I didn't have time to get away and I couldn't control it. So you'll know if it's really bad," I smile at him. "I will know when something's wrong with you though. I'll see it in your eyes. I can read everyone's eyes without even trying too hard. The eyes are the window to the soul, that's a saying where I grew up and for me I've been able to look through those windows for a few years now. No matter how hard someone works to hide something by keeping a straight face I know that you're eyes will reveal the truth."

            He looks shocked and then realizes I have known that he's been upset this entire time. Even when he was insulting me. "But you were so angry, so hard on me." He responds astonished.

            "I believe everyone needs different things to heal from experiences like this. But most of them don't want to be babied until the pain is gone because the pain never leaves. It's always there but it dulls. The pain is a constant reminder, it is the symbol that they are still living inside of you and a reminder of their death, of your pain from it. But if you're treated like nothing happened it hurts too much, if you're babied the pain won't go away. If someone who didn't know the deceased baby you then it angers you because they didn't even know the person and don't have any idea what you are going through, if they act like nothing happened it's insensitive. And if you're babied by those in the same pain as you you're upset because they are going through the same pain and you don't feel as though it's right for them to all treat you like it was that much worse for you. They can't act like nothing's wrong but you feel if they act like they have it worse it upsets you. You need someone who will be kind but yell at you when you screw up. They still get angry when you provoke them. They still smile when you are nice or make them laugh, they still try to comfort you when you can't hold in the pain anymore. They try to console you as best as they can when they first find out. They don't keep bringing it up but try to help you move on. You don't need someone to tip toe around you or shove salt in your wound telling you to stop being a baby. You need someone who will be there for you when you need them and will still get upset when something you do is wrong. It's no help to be treated differently but it's no help to be treated like usual either. I understand that just fine. I would have given you my condolences sooner after we first met but you insulted me. I knew I had to acknowledge the fact that you deserve some leniency after what just happened but you were still in the wrong and you went too far. I know you were hurting when you said those things but just because you're in pain doesn't mean you can say whatever you want," I smile at him. "I don't know how but I just get what someone needs in this situation, even though I've never been in it myself."

            "That's amazing. It's like you're in tune with everything a soul may emit. I bet after a while living here like you were meant to you will be able to see soul's and understand their personalities too," Soul appraises me.

            "Thanks. But I'm still getting a hang of not being sickly anymore and the idea of having to become athletic," I smile sheepishly at him. "Unless a sloppy kart-wheel counts."

            "Oh man I'm going to have my work cut out for me aren't I?" he grins and shakes his head. "Thanks Scarlet. Having you around and not having to hide anything helps."

            "Of course. And if you ever want to talk I'm here. Though if you need to talk I'll pull you out of class to do so," I wink at him.

            "Thanks. I'll make dinner tonight to welcome you and then we should go to bed. It's getting late and we have school tomorrow at seven in the morning," he smiles and I groan.

            "Why can't any school ever start at a decent hour? Like nine or ten, then people wouldn't be so exhausted in the morning and could sleep in," I complain. "I better go plug my phone in and set the alarm for four in the morning. Warning if Blair annoys me in the morning she may not survive. I am not a morning person and I don't do coffee."

            "Oh boy. You're a scary one. How can I get you not to bite my head off?" he laughs as he starts up dinner.

            "Keep lights off unless they turn on gradually. Have a good TV, and a reason for me to start moving at five, and I'll only need a few minutes to get dressed and ready to go," I shrug. "I'm just moving my daily routine around a bit."

            "You have a daily routine?" he looks at my strangely.

            "Not technically. I wake up and go through the same or similar routine on school days. Most of my life consists of a TV and sleep," I grin.

            "Nice lifestyle. But we are aiming for something that requires a lot of work and physical labor. I won't blame you for finding it difficult later on, or even after you r first day but I need to succeed at this. I'm sorry but I need to drag you through this difficult life. Just know I'll be there the whole time okay," he looks up at me dead serious. "I won't let you fall behind and get hurt."

            "I know Soul and I trust you. But just so you know, there may be times when I want to give up. My emotional state isn't always stable. I grew up at a point in my family where we had money and I got almost anything I asked for, but the only thing I couldn't get was the reciprocation of emotions like love and tenderness. That greatly damaged me to a point where I was on the verge of being suicidal. A few more years like that and I may have been a danger to myself. That's why when Lord Death came to me and my family about a boarding school I jumped at the chance without thinking. I needed to get out of the house. But I haven't been able to resolve my problems and because of that enough stress will wear on me to a breaking point and I may break down on occasion and be ready to just give up. I want you to know this because it will affect you just as much as it will me, maybe not emotionally but with everything else," I look away from him and am unable to meet his eyes when I tell him of this weakness. I know I will only hinder him and I know that he can't just get rid of me to get ahead. Because of this I am ashamed that I will cause him so many problems.

            "I had no idea that such problems could exist but I promise that it doesn't mean anything. As the Weapon it is my job to protect my Meister. And I will give up my own life to ensure yours," he grabs my face the food having been finished. "It's something I have been prepared to do and have nearly done before. I am your tool, so use me to support you and I promise I will never fail you."

            "Thank you Soul. I just hope I don't cause you any real problems. Hopefully this place will be different," I say and then turn to the food he prepared. "I suppose we better eat and go to bed huh? After all we do have school tomorrow."

            "Yeah," Soul responds and we sit down and eat the food Soul made. I wash the dishes then go and change into pajama's in the bathroom. I set my alarm and go to sleep. Knowing that I can expect a new life in the morning.

            The next morning I wake up as sour as usual and start watching TV. Once I'm finally awake enough I get up and make some breakfast. Remembering that I have another person in the apartment I make enough for two. Blair can make her own food. When Soul comes out I'm almost done and still watching TV. I grunt my greetings and then head to the bathroom to get changed and ready. Once ready I'm fully awake and smiling. "Morning Soul," I say happily.

            "Holy crap that was a fast transition," he looks stunned. "And fast change."

            "I'm a fast changer, and once I'm finally really moving I wake up easier but I can't just get moving right away because it could cause a fire. Oh well. Ready to head to school," I smile the entire time and he just nods.

            We leave the apartment and head for the school Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, and Patty all join us on our way to the school Liz looks at my face and scrunches hers up a bit.

            "Why are you all smiley? It's early in the morning," she clearly has her anti-morning lasting longer than me.

            "Well it's much later than when I woke up. And at least the sun is out and I'm usually just a smiley person if I can be," I shrug in response.

            "So you really grew up in another world than you were meant to?" Tsubaki asked curiously.

            "Apparently. I always thought I didn't belong and I guess now I know why," I sigh. "But all that I want to focus on is seeing if I'll be accepted by my classmates. I mean I am a stranger to all of this and then I somehow ended up as Soul's partner. From what I can tell you guys are pretty infamous."

            "Don't worry I won't let them have a problem with it. We would be mentoring you anyways so I see nothing wrong with this. Right Black Star," Soul tries to bring him in on the conversation.

            "Yeah. Besides apparently she's someone special to what's left of my clan. I can't let them down when I just got to meet them so I'll make sure she's safe," Black Star responds half out of it.

            "Black Star are you feeling alright? You haven't been yourself since yesterday," Tsubaki asks worriedly.

            "Are you kidding me? Such a big guy like me? How could anything be wrong? I'm the amazing Black Star. I will surpass even the gods themselves. Ahahahahaha," Black Star responds haughtily.

            "Okay Black Star," Tsubaki smiles.

            We get to class and Soul motions for a kid to get up then motions me to take the spot. He sits down next to me and I see the seat is in the perfect location for me to be able to learn perfectly in class. I smile at him and he gives a half smile in return.

            "Who is she?" I hear someone say. "Why does she get to sit with them?" another person. Everyone around us whispers about me. "Better question why is Soul being so nice to her? Why is she here? How'd she get in here? I heard she was a late entry to the roster. No way that never happens. But Kid was a late entry. Yeah but Kid is Lord Deaths son, of course he could enroll whenever. How'd she get a spot in this class? She doesn't look like anything special. How dare she act so friendly with them? They're way out of her league. There's no way those two are partners." And the whispers continue.

            "It's just the same," I mutter and look down until the bell rings. I think I could feel Soul's eyes on me but I couldn't look up.

            "Class as I'm sure you are all aware tragedy struck this academy early yesterday morning causing our best team to need to find a replacement among the first years and join their team member back at the beginning once again. Would you six please stand in the front of the room?" The teacher starts class like that. They all walk up to the front of the room and face the class. "They are some of the best students we ever had in this school and they are who you should look to as a goal to strive for. Now as I mentioned this team needs to find a new member to be Soul's Meister...."

            I don't really hear the rest. It was something about tryouts but I am damn near tears when he says that. Was all that about being partners just a lie? Am I really just some girl that they're all playing a prank on and the punch line is that I don't belong anywhere? I'm about to excuse myself to go to the bathroom when I hear Soul speak up.

            "Sir I already have found my partner. Lord Death should have informed you but he wanted to give a private try out for her and it turned out to be a perfect compatibility. I cannot transform for anyone else anymore only for her. She has had a difficult past and that's why she wasn't in this school the first time we were first years. But none the less she is my partner now and tryouts are not an option," Soul says.

            "Then how about she comes down and introduce herself to the class I'd also like to see this perfect compatibility," The teacher says and all the girls stand up to try and rush down there. I stand slowly and Soul walks up to the desk and smiles a bit.

            "I don't think you can get out that way," he points to the sides that are blocked by girls trying to get out. "So how about you come down the cool way."

            I smile at his confidence in the face of all of this and I sit on the desk and swing my legs around. But I don't let him catch me, instead I jump down gracefully right past him landing first on my right foot and then stabilizing myself with my left then I spin around and look at Soul with a big smile. "You said the cool way. What part of being lifted down is that cool." I wink at him and his smile grows to the point where he's almost laughing.

            "Well introduce yourself girl," the teacher says.

            "I will happily but first I have a question. Is it customary to start off class without introducing yourself and then asking for someone else's name? Because if it is I believe that's a rather rude thing," I smile a bit. "But my name is Scarlet sir. Scarlet Rosen."

            "Uh, sorry I suppose I figured that everyone already knew me from orientation yesterday. I'm Sid and I'll be one of your teachers," Sid replies.

            "I think I was in the Death room or getting a tour during Orientation. I'm sorry but my circumstances are a bit different than everyone else's. My life was meant to be lived in this world but ended up in a parallel world due to some accident. That's why Lord Death arranged for me to be introduced to Soul's team when I was first enrolled but when they lost Maka he wanted me to try and see if I was compatible with Soul. We ended up more compatible than we realized," I give a small bow.

            "To be exact I believe you were in the middle of having the Star Clan attack us and bind us because I was an idiot who didn't think before insulting you," Soul says and yells erupt from the class.

            "You guys got a problem with it? Really? She barely did anything but scream in utter frustration with Soul and they descended upon us. She could have had them kill us but instead she had them make it so we were unable to move and she could reprimand Soul. Scarlet did the right thing. She just had help doing it," Kid shouts to them.

            "But the Star Clan was practically wiped out. We only took in Black Star. How did you get their help?" Sid asked.

            "Half of the clan broke off from the rest and left for the parallel world when they found what the clan was doing to be wrong. They wanted to fight for a person they thought worthy not for money. When they met me they found me a worthy person to protect and several people may have died because of it," I smile a bit sheepishly at that last part.

            "Now Sid can we move on. This is class and we can update you on this later," Soul says.

            "Yeah sure. Everyone get up and grab your things we're heading to the gym for a demonstration and the start of your training," Soul reaches over the giant desk and grabs our stuff.

            "We're part of the demonstration just so you know. I'm going to spin faster today so try to be careful. But I know you can do it. I'll explain what we'll be doing. We're demonstrating transformation, and Soul Resonance. In Soul resonance you send your soul wavelength to me and I amplify it then send it back. We continue this process until we make a soul wavelength more powerful than either of us alone. This can result in different attacks. I have pulled off three before. I'll help as much as I can okay. And don't be afraid to show off as much as you can. Since I'll be spinning faster you'll need to go with my momentum to not hurt yourself. Just reach out and grab me like yesterday but keep spinning me just start slowing it down and then try to follow the momentum so that it makes it easier to slow me down. Other than those things I can't really give you anymore suggestions," Soul explains as best he can.

            "I think I got it. I'm a quick study but I'm not athletically inclined," I tell him thoughtfully.

            "You'll be fine. If I didn't think you could handle it I wouldn't bother trying," Soul shrugs. We walk into the gym and see six upperclassmen. "What are you doing here Ox?"

            "Well we just figured that the first years would need someone who actually knows what they're doing to demonstrate for them. After all you guys are first years now too," the guy Soul called Ox says.

            "How dare you. You think you could be a better demonstration than such a big guy as me? Ha that's a laugh. You didn't fight the Kishin, you only fought in some semi-major battles," Black Star says.

            "Yes but none of you did defeat the Kishin now did you? No, you didn't, at least none of you that are still alive. So go on and sit down kiddies let the upperclassmen handle this," Ox smirks.

            "How dare you say such a thing. If you're so awesome then how can you even say something like that. She only just passed on, it's still a fresh wound for all of them and you go and rub it in that she's gone?! Well if you're so high and mighty then let's see just how good your resonance is. I may have never attempted this before but I have full confidence that you won't be able to handle me and Soul," I clench my fists. "Soul transform and let's do our demonstration. You told me how it works, so let's put it to the test."

            "With pleasure Scarlet. Just remember what I told you and you'll be fine," Soul says sneering at Ox.

            "Oh please what could this girl possibly do in high heel boots?" He asks and Soul just then notices my foot wear. Before he can say anything I let out a short laugh and smirk.

            "Oh please what can't I do. It's not like these heels are thin and weak. I've been able to run as fast as any other person my size can while in these heels and I am damn well not taking them off for something like this," I look to Soul. "So transform and let's do this thing."

            My look seemed to be all the convincing soul needed before jumping up and transforming. He comes down spinning obscenely fast and I don't think I just reach out and grab him following his momentum and moving my hands with him. I lean back on my heel and spin several times. Before stopping and holding Soul in Scythe form at a diagonal behind my back with his head turned down. Ox looked shocked and so did everyone else.

            "Wait didn't you say that you've never done this before?" Sid asks astonished.

            "I did and it was the truth the only other time I even picked up soul was yesterday and he was practically just floating there waiting for me," I said with a smirk. My legs had landed in ballet position three and my back was perfectly straight. It was picture perfect. I think someone actually took a picture. "Now should I move onto soul resonance, or do I need to wait for Oxford over there."

            "Please proceed I'll wait until you're done to show you up," Ox responds then realizes what I called him."Wait how'd you know my full name?"

            "I didn't. I called you by the name of a college where I'm from, Oxford College is respected but not as the top school. Heck it's not even top ten," I smile and then focus. I find my soul wavelength and standing as I had landed begin soul resonance. After a bit I feel it and me and soul shout out together "Soul Resonance." Then I continue with the name as the technique forms. "Vampire Hunter." Soul forms a shining, shimmering, magic filled, pure crimson blade that changes shape to accommodate me and look like a crescent moon  with fangs. The blade is huge and yet seems to be light, emitting a small glow as well I hold it like that and everyone stares. Many take pictures as they ever so quietly mutter to themselves. I smile at Ox's face and lift the blade. Ever so carefully I swing narrowly missing him by an inch. Ox falls on his ass and can't seem to utter any words. "Next time you think to disrespect a fallen comrade I'd reconsider. You may not have been close but there are people who were close to the deceased, and when you disrespect such a comrade you hurt those they care about in ways you cannot even imagine. Losing someone is a pain equal to no other and causes people to sometimes fall over the edge of despair. Choose your words carefully and respect and care for those around you. You never know who you'll grow attached to, or who you will make enemies of with such simple minded and idiotic comments as what you made earlier. Such actions cause disasters, and feuds. And causing such horrible things not only harm you but any who you care about as well."

            Everyone stares at me and suddenly I hear a single clap from behind me. Startled I turned around and stumble falling to the ground when I see who it is. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my little sister. The girl who is so righteous and betraying as to turn her back on her family which provided for and took care of you for years. Just to go to school and learn how to fight. I came here at the request of mom and dad. They wanted to know if it was a school appropriate for you and gave me full permission to pull you out if I deemed it unfit for the little princess that we raised. How is weapons fit for such a sickly and small girl. Come on we're going home and you're leaving this place," he roughly grabs my arms and I struggle scared out of my mind of what he is going to do to me.

            "Soul, Soul help me!" I cry out terrified that my brother somehow got here and followed me into this other world and into this school. Soul transforms back grabs hold of me separating him from me.

            "Don't touch her. You have no right to even be here right now. Kid call your dad I don't think this guy is willing to leave without her and I'm pretty sure he wants to hurt her," Soul shouts holding me protectively. I cower into his chest petrified by fear.

            "Yeah, I'm on it," Kid starts his spell to summon another way than a mirror to call his father Lord Death. When his dad answers he quickly says, "Dad we have a problem. Scarlet has a not too friendly visitor and he seems to petrify her."

            "That's not good. I'll be there as fast as I can. Try and get her away from him before her soul gets out of control. If she gets too scared part of her Soul becomes tangible electricity and attacks indiscriminately. That's what first alerted me to her," Lord Death replies worriedly.

            "You hear that soul?" Kid asks as the call ends he tells Liz and Patty to transform and Black Star tells Tsubaki the same thing.

            "Yeah I heard him but there's just one problem. It's hard to move her away from her brother when after amplifying her soul it became slightly unstable already. If I move her now that electricity will happen. I can already feel it just under her skin," Soul replies. "So how about you guys get him away from her?"

            "We can try but we can't kill a human. We'll start to head towards being Kishin eggs," Kid replies.

            "Then don't kill him. Hold him back from me and Scarlet until your dad gets here. Oh and hey Ox, you know this is kind of something you could jump in on too right? After all there are a bunch of first years who don't even know the first thing about fighting that are in here right now."

            "Shit your right. We can't let them get hurt before they've even learned the basics. Alright I'll help but not to save your little Maka wannabe," Ox replies.

            "Shut up you idiot you'll just upset her more," Soul snaps as I clutch him tighter. Unable to move any more than the involuntary shaking of my body.

            They get my brother away from me and hold him back just long enough for Lord Death to arrive like when he came to meet my family and me. "What seems to be the problem here." He asks.

            "The problem is that my little sister is a minor and she left without permission from our parents. They denied her going here and she ran off to come here anyways. When they realized that they sent me to come get her. If you don't let me take her home then you're kidnapping," my brother Trent replies with a smirk.

            "Well I'm sorry but in this instance and this location, so long as she is here of her own free will then it is impossible to kidnap her. Besides you're not even in your world boy. You wouldn't even know how to get home. Meanwhile in this world she has another set of parents that encourage her going here. She's not even really your sister so please leave peacefully and I'll send you home. Otherwise there will be a rather tiresome fight on our hands," Lord Death calmly explains.

            "Of course I'm still in my world. There is no way to travel between enough planets so fast or even at all. So you're clearly just trying to scare me," Trent sneers.

            I barely register all of this when soul starts gently rubbing my back. "It's okay Scarlet he can't hurt you anymore. You're stronger than he is, so he can't touch you. Remember that, remember who and what you are. You're not even his sister, you're someone else entirely," Soul comforts. It helps, I stop shaking.

            "He's right you know Scarlet. You're not a Jones, you're a Rosen. A member of a rather well off family that I happen to know personally. This man may scare you but he's from that other world, here you're stronger while he stays the same," Lord Death tries to aide Soul.

            "See Scarlet, you have nothing to fear from him anymore. He can do nothing to you ever again," Soul finishes and I finally regain my strength.

            "Your right but I'll never rest easy around him after all that he's done to me. Trent, for years you tormented me and caused me pain but now I can do that to you. I can also have you killed at the push of a button. My friends from before swore they'd never let you touch me again and the ones now are willing to help me fight you. Though I only need one of them to help me. Now I'm going to be nice and let Lord Deaths offer continue, if you leave peacefully he will send you home, but if you still insist on trying to take me I won't even have to fight back. But I will and I'll knock you out and call my friends and they'll wait for you to wake up before doing everything that they have dreamed of doing ever since they found out what you've been doing to me," I don't look at him. I just keep my head down and face Soul who stood with me and let him smile down at me. "I may be scared of you, but I know I have no real reason to be anymore, and because of that, I'll fight back just like I did in the beginning difference is, I'll be the winner this time."

            "Like I'd ever take that offer. You're just bluffing anyways, you can't do anything, you're a little sickly girl," Trent responds. I reach out to Soul and he transforms with a smirk once again.

            "I gave you a chance to be safe. Guys back off, he's mine now," I say with a certain deadliness to my voice. "I may not personally kill him, but I doubt he'll survive more than a week here."

            I turn around and fix my deadly stare on Trent, who then returns it with a smirk. I let him come at me. I spin around him and use the part of Soul that's not a blade to knock him over. I laugh a bit as he tries to get up, but before he does I spin around and strike him in the back of the head knocking him out cold. I pull out my phone and dial Ashton's number.

            "Hey Scarlet what's up? I thought you'd be in class right now," Ashton answers.

            "I am but we got interrupted and so now I have a little present for all of you. Come find me at the school and you'll get your hands on the best moving present ever," I reply with a smirk. Soul had already transformed back.

            "We're in the gym just ask the front desk and they'll show you. Say you're the clean-up crew," Soul calls to the phone.

            "Wait why the clean-up crew?" Ashton asks me.

            "Let's just say this is a living mess you'd be more than happy to deal with," I said the smirk evident in my voice.

            "We'll be right over. Hope this is as good as you say it is. 'Hey guys, Scarlet is calling us to the Academy. let's head over there now.' We'll be there in about five minutes," Ashton responds coolly.

            "Thanks, see you then. Bye," I hang up the call and look at everyone in the room. "Thank you for supporting me and helping me. I'm sorry to cause such a nuisance due to my past. I'll try not to let that happen again." I bow in apology to them.

            "Idiot, you don't need to apologize. We all have baggage. Everyone of us is here for our own reasons. We just have to have the strength to keep going after our main reason is taken care of," Black Star says. "Besides you're friends with what's left of the Star Clan, how much cooler could you be?"

            "Thanks Black Star," I smile softly at him and he just gives me this goofy smile and a thumbs up. Just then we hear the Star Clan that Black Star just mentioned.

            "Hey Scarlet..." Ashton started before he saw Trent on the floor near my feet. "Is that who I think it is? Do we finally get to kill that bastard? Please tell me we do."

            "Oh gods yes please! let us kill the asshole," another clan member begged.

            "Haha, yup he's all yours guys. He came and tried to forcefully take me back to those people. So have as much fun as you want," I smile at them.

            "But don't make this a habit or you will share the same fate as the other half of the clan," Lord Death added.

            "Yes Ma'am! Yes Sir!" they all smiled and a couple of them hauled him off to go torture back at their village.

            "I'm actually a bit surprised at how cool your friends can be. Despite being the Star Clan. I mean Black Star's cool and all but let's face it, he can be rather lame at times," Soul comments and I whack his shoulder just barely hard enough to sting. "Ow!"

            "Don't forget that those guys risk becoming Kishins constantly for me. The only thing stopping them is not eating the human souls," I scold him.

            "Wait seriously? How many enemies did you have in that other world?" Soul asked me.

            "More than I care to count. No one likes a girl who uses what her momma gave her but doesn't let anyone touch. I could seduce my way into a palace but I wouldn't let them actually get anywhere. And that was my means of surviving. Very few guys didn't like my body but even less guys liked me for me. No one wanted to physically harm me because I looked good, but nobody liked me for me. So when I started saying no to people all the time. They started hating me more. Excluding me more. Those guys made sure it didn't progress too far for my safety and comfort levels," I looked at Soul straight in the eyes the entire time I say this.

            "Wow, that's some pretty serious stuff. Sorry to drudge up bad memories," Soul rubs the back of his head.

            "It's fine. I've come to terms with people liking me for something superficial. And besides people can hate me all they want, they just don't get to harm me because of it," I shrug.

            "Well it seems this class has had an eventful day. Why don't you all go home early and get some rest. Tomorrow you all will find you partners like Soul had yesterday. Today was their first day as partners. And the day after tomorrow will be yours. So to speak. So go and rest so you don't have a hard time finding your partner," Lord Death says and with that ends my first day of being partners with Soul. First FULL day anyways.


	3. Chapter 3 Day Two and a Gym

Chapter 3

Day Two and a Gym

 

            The next day I woke up to find soul in the kitchen doing something while Blair sat trying to seduce him into paying attention to her.

            "Blair shut the hell up before I have Soul transform and I maim you," I growl out but am thankful for the dark. "Soul what are you doing in the kitchen when it's Dark."

            "Making you a reason to get moving in an hour and keeping the lights out until you're ready. Just like you suggested," Soul replies with a small chuckle. Blair simply harrumphed and pouted at, once again, being ignored.

            I grunted and turned on the TV. After several minutes Soul joined me on the couch until he noticed I seemed awake enough for a conversation. Then he waited until it was an okay time to speak based on the show. (He catches on fast.)

            "So I stayed up late last night and finished clearing out Maka's room. I didn't necessarily get rid of anything yet but it's all in boxes in my room and I began sorting through it. If you want to personalize it we can go shopping sometime so you can, all we have to do is go see Lord Death first because he has a credit card that your parents sent for you," Soul tells me. It was almost enough to knock me into being fully awake...almost.

            "Wait are you serious? You took care of it all in one day?" I was shocked and in a way touched.

            "Yeah, well I didn't feel right with you out here on the couch. Especially when we need to get you ready to take on some Kishin. So I took care of it," Soul rubs the back of his neck and then he gets up to pull whatever it was out of the oven.

            "And then you still proceeded to get up early and bake something?" I looked at him with an expression that asked a million things.

            "Yeah. I didn't stay up that late and I was thinking of making a deal with you," Soul starts up and I look at him interested. "You aren't a morning person at all so I figured I should take care of breakfast. Then you can take care of what lunches we have and Dinner during the week."

            "Sounds reasonable but why does it almost seem like you barely changed what you were going to say for dinner?" I asked.

            "Because I did. I was going to say Dinner we could alternate but then I thought of your reaction and changed it to that," Soul looked away.

            "Smart man, that would have been way too much. You'd end up with almost all the cooking," I both praise and scold him. "But that does sound like a good idea, the one that's more equal."

            "Thanks. Now come on you need food. I though chocolate chip was a safe assumption," Soul pulled me up to have me shuffle over to food and then shuffle back to the couch.

            About a half hour later I was up and moving towards the bathroom when Soul grabbed me and lead me to Maka's room. My face scrunched up at the color. "No offense but the first thing that's going is the yellow walls. Red is much more my style," I comment.

            "None taken, she just thought it was a good color to study with or something I never really knew," Soul smirks before he closes the door saying that I should get ready. I get dressed and then take care of anything I needed to in the bathroom. Soon I emerged from the bathroom smiling and ready for school Soul told me that because we already had partners we got to hang out and do whatever. I was very happy when he said that, but then he decided to bring down my mood.

            "I'll make you a deal. We go and get your credit card first and then go to the cardio gym for an hour. After that you can drag me shopping to your heart's content," Soul smirks at me.

            "Oh you may raise that amount of time because it'll be really unfair otherwise," I smirk right back. "Let's just say I usually end up with half my friends from the Star clan carrying something when I am given free reign of shopping."

            "Oh gods. Yeah okay make that two hours at the gym. We'll do cardio for an hour and then we'll do weights for an hour. I'll call our friends to join us," Soul smiles.

            He informed us that we just had to be there for attendance and then we'd be excused for the rest of the day. I was positively giddy with the thought of shopping. I texted Ashton about my shopping excursion and he asked if he could call to discuss it. so I told him I was promised to the gym for two hours and I would call him when I had my breath back. After that Kid, Liz, Patty, Black Star, and Tsubaki all joined us on our way and we talked about what to do while they had me in the gym. Kid and Black Star were starting up a whole regime until Soul reminded them he has only convinced me of the two hours today and that was through a shopping bribe.

            We got to class and were quickly sent off on our way to go do whatever so we went to the Death room. When I got in there Kid called out for his dad and Lord Death stepped out of the mirror.

            "Yes?" Lord Death asked in his ridiculous but perfect voice.

            "We're here to pick up that credit card for Scarlet before we hit the gym to start training her. Also if there were any rules on the card," Soul informs lord Death.

            "Ah yes," Lord Death pulls a small card out of his robes and hands it to me. "The rules are simple. If you want it buy it, if it won't fit in your place get a bigger one, and spoil yourself with it. Your parents are really upset that you didn't get to grow up with them so they got you an unlimited card. With their money, they can."

            My smile grows infinitely more. "Thank you Lord Death. And please give my thanks to my parents too," I respond with my huge smile.

            "Of course they did. And I promised to shop with her until she no longer wanted to if she went to the gym for two hours," Soul groans but still has a smile.

            "That was brave of you Soul, I mean she is a mostly normal girl who would get a credit card today," Liz commented smirking.

            "I thought there would be some kind of limit," Soul responds and I giggle.

            "You guys are all welcome to come too. Boys will be carrying and I have an entire clan willing to help with that," I smirk at the girls and we all high five at what we'll be putting the boys through.

            "Oh we'll enjoy this," Liz comments.

            "Yay, Kid's carrying!" Patty laughs.

            "Thank you for inviting me," Tsubaki smiles.

            I tell them it was no problem and we get to the gym. Soul puts me on at least five machines for cardio and has me do at least five others for weights. By the time we're done I'm practically out of breath and wheezing. I don't have asthma but I was definitely wheezing.

            "You do this all the time?" I asked between breaths. "That's insane."

            "Actually we usually only do two or three machines a day and it's usually one hour, but you need to familiarize yourself with the ten machines we use. We alternate between cardio and weights everyday so we stay fit enough for battle," Soul shrugs and I give him an incredulous look. "What? We do this sometimes for fun."

            "FOR FUN!" I shout. "What part of this is fun? This was torture. Oh, get ready buddy we are shopping for way more than just two hours. I don't think there will be anymore stores open by the time we stop shopping."

            The boys got a scared look and the girls looked excited. Soul had another thing coming for giving me that intense workout. I so needed a shower now, that was not a happy easy workout.

            "Please Scarlet go easy on us. We just were trying to help," Soul pleaded.

            "So am I. I plan to help with your wardrobe, your decorations, and so much more. My help will at least look good and smell good, your help resulted in a hot mess," my voice was so calm it was terrifying. The boys were shaking in their boots. I pulled out my phone and dialed Ashton. "I'm going to ask for less than usual, these boys are getting their workout taken to the next level."

            "Oh god what did they do? Did they make you exercise too much? Because if that's the case I don't think many of us could handle being near you but me and a couple others," Ashton replies.

            "That's perfect, you'll get the light loads," I breath out.

            "Shit! We'll bring you your favorite soda too. Just don't kill anybody Scarlet, it's not worth it," Ashton says as calmly as he can before he yells for a few of his braver men to join him in accompanying me shopping and to grab my soda. They arrived in five minutes. "Your soda."

            "Thank you," I chuck the water away and start drinking my soda. As I'm drinking my soda Ashton punches Soul.

            "What the hell was that for?!" Soul yelled at him.

            "For being an idiot. You do realize that she was sickly before coming here and had never worked out before right? It always makes her crabby," Ashton replies darkly.

            "What the hell. She was doing great and she's not sickly anymore, she should be fine now," Soul spits out at him.

            "Let me word this differently. The last time she was forced to work out this hard was when she ran the mile for school in the other world. She almost became a Kishin right then and there because of how many people were near her. There were three teachers and three classes of thirty students. She was so crabby after running we barely managed to keep her hands clean," Ashton tells them and they all stare at me in shock.

            "What? I don't like the way exercise makes me feel. I feel crappy after sucking so bad at it and then I get pissed for feeling like that and it doesn't help that I'm all hot and sweaty," I grumble.

            "Go a hell of a lot easier on her from now on and you won't risk being the weapon of a Kishin," Ashton adds on.

            "Yeah, got it. Be more careful. When she starts acting crabby stop," Soul nods finally getting why he was punched.

            "Great now that that's settled lets go take showers and then shop till we drop," I smile and go to my locker where my stuff was. "I'll be taking first shower Soul."

            I get back to the apartment in record time and shower changing into a shirt that says "Shopping is my Cardio" on it and some black skinny jeans. The shirt was black as well with pink and white writing. I add on some good looking, and comfortable heels and then apply some make-up before leaving the bathroom. Soul looks shocked to see my turn in mood be so fast. A good shower does wonders. I sit on the couch and wait for soul, he was done in ten minutes. We quickly went and met up with the others and then went shopping. I got paint for my room, new furniture, a new mattress, some curtains, a new alarm clock, new clothes, a laptop, new shoes, some perfumes, new beauty products, a small chandelier for my room, several painting, and a cork board. I bought the others a few clothing items as well and Ashton promised to be there to sign for my stuff and have some of the star clan paint my room for me while I was at school the next day. By the time we were done Soul and the other boys were beyond exhausted so I finally agreed to buy us all dinner before we went home.

            "That was great," I smiled from ear to ear and the boys all grunted in response.

            "You're right that was pretty awesome, and the way you got Kid to carry our things made it even better. Saying he was unsymmetrical every time he refused to carry something was brilliant," Liz laughed.

            "I haven't seen Black Star this quiet since he was too injured to talk," Tsubaki giggled a little.

            "Haha, shopping is fun!" Patty was as fun and happy go lucky as ever.

            "Never do that to me again. Please. I mean holly shit, how many shoes does one girl need?" Soul was exasperated.

            "Only one pair for every outfit," I smile remembering the phrase from my would be Aunt.

            "And how many outfits does one girl need?" Soul was incredulous.

            "As many as she wants. It's a very pleasing thing to know that you have a lot of clothes," I smile even wider at his expression.

            "And the accessories and make-up along with the other beauty products?" Soul questions.

            "Um duh, the reason is in the name, beauty products. And you can't have an outfit without accessories," I respond and me and the girls all laugh at the boys faces to my strange but somehow sound reasoning.

            "Give up boys. You'll never understand women, and it's better that way," Liz laughs.

            "I agree, it is a mystery that no one has solved for centuries," Tsubaki added.

            "Women are no mystery to such a big guy as me. There's no way when I'll surpass the gods themselves," Black Star responds tiredly.

            "Give it a rest Black Star, that's not what the Star Clan is about," Ashton rolled his eyes before taking a sip of his drink. "Besides I've been hanging around Scarlet for years now and the only thing about women that I've learned is that they enjoy shopping but not carrying anything."

            "Oh yeah cause that's helpful," Kid grumbles.

            "Oh but you see Kid your father is Lord Death. That makes you a hot commodity to women, at least until they get to know you well enough," I laugh at my little comment and Soul can't help but laugh too.

            "Okay that was funny," Soul smiles at me. "I can handle being your pack mule for shopping every now and then but please not this long ever again."

            "Don't make me workout so much ever again and you've got yourself a deal," I smirk and Soul looks shocked.

            "You evil genius! You planned this from the start," Soul practically yells. "I respect that. You've got a deal. You know, you're pretty cool. When you want to be."

             "Uh, no. I'm always cool. I'm a nerd when I want to be," I smirk again. "Besides you do realize that our classmates joined us in a way while we were shopping. Your new thing will be that I so own you."

            "You're joking right? Please tell me you're joking," Soul sits up straighter.

            "Nope, but don't worry. You can still be cool while being owned," I wink at him and he slumps down in his chair mumbling how embarrassing it is.

            "Cheer up Soul. There weren't that many classmates. Remember they're first years and most of them don't have any money so your reputation should be rather safe," Kid explains and Soul perks up.

            "You'll see, it's actually rather cool to help a girl carry her shopping bags. It's considered honorable and shows comfort in your masculinity when you are carrying several girly shopping bags," I smile at him.

            We then begin parting ways and I head back to my apartment with Soul where Blair meets us whining about how she's been bored alone all day. I told her to shut up and cry about it to herself because we don't want to hear it. I load up my closet and get ready for bed. Classes start up for real in the morning and things will get a bit crazy.


	4. Chapter 4: The First Class

Chapter 4

The First Class

 

            We got to class the next day and a giant book was placed in front of each of us. I stared at it wide eyed before opening it up a bit and sighing in relief at the larger than average text. That meant they were simply trying to scare us with its size.

            "This is what we'll be studying this year. In between your jobs, your physical fitness, and your free time, this will be all that you know. It is a two thousand page book at the very least and you will be tested on this every year, with more added each year. This test every year will be called the Super Written Exam. This will determine your class ranks. Soul, Black Star, I expect no cheating this year, I think you both know the consequences," Sid explains to the class before calling out Soul and Black Star.

            "It was one time!" Soul exclaims.

            "It was last year!" Sid responds incredulously.

            "Did you seriously cheat? What is up with that?" I ask Soul looking at him with an expression that shows how much I hate cheating.

            "I tried and got like one or two questions in before I was caught and stripped down to my underwear," Soul grumbles.

            "That's nothing, I couldn't even speak for a week from what Professor Stein did to me. I was hung in front of the class on a nail during the test," Black Star exclaimed.

            "Yeah but you also tried sneaking into Steins house to steal the answers and got caught because you suck at sneaking," Soul retorts and I sigh.

            "Soul just so you know, there will be no cheating this year. I refuse to have my friend cheat on such an important exam," I look at Soul extremely seriously as I say that. My face on the verge of becoming scary if needed.

            "Right, yeah, of course. I got it, no cheating, if I cheat I'm in big trouble. I promise I will not cheat ever again," Soul replies with a nervous sweat.

            "I think you'll be good for him. How did you do that? He's never been that worried about his studies," Sid looks at me approvingly.

            "Oh you misunderstand Sir. Soul isn't worried about his studies, he's worried about what will happen to him if he doesn't take his studies seriously. He has heard some stories of what I can be like," I smile like a very good student to Sid.

            "Huh, try keeping them in line then if you can. Lord Death knows they'll need it," Sid responds with a hearty laugh before continuing on with class. After class Sid asks me just what story had Soul and the guys so scared and I told him about the time I was forced to run a mile. Needless to say even the zombie was shaking.

            We got to the gym as part of our mandatory courses and I am put on a weight machine. The teacher had us each start on the highest settings and work our way down so he may know where we are and what to work on. Most of the students were able to lift halfway through the weights, about two took a few more, and my entire team was able to lift from the start, at the heaviest. I on the other hand, took until there was only about five weights left before I was finally able to lift any. That totaled at about forty pounds.

            "Wow, she's the newest member of the strongest team in history and she can't even lift half the weights. How sad is that?" One of the students taunted.

            "At least I don't need to try putting others down in order to feed my own pride or self esteem," I respond angrily.

            "Oh yeah, cause putting down a runt like you is hard. After all you don't belong here, you grew up in another world. Why don't you run along home and let one of us big boys handle Soul Eater for you, at least then he'd be able to get somewhere," the same big oaf continued messing with me. While I knew that Soul couldn't have another Meister it still hurt.

            "Yeah, what does a weakling like you know anyways. Like he said, you're not even from this world. Then again she doesn't belong in that world either you know. After all her birth parents are from here and her soul wave length can't be handled in that world. So I suppose she just doesn't belong anywhere. Why don't you just leave the academy you stupid, little, annoying, rich girl who belongs nowhere and let Soul have a real Meister," another student taunted this time and the words hurt.

            I raised my hand and asked to go to the bathroom. Soul recognized this from what I had said earlier and followed me without even bothering to find out if it would cause him trouble.

            "Scarlet wait!" Soul calls out and it just makes me start to run. "Scarlet you can't outrun me so you'll have to face me sooner or later."

            "I choose later!" I call out on the verge of tears and just as I'm about to duck into the nearest girls bathroom he grabs my wrist. "Soul let go of me!"

            "Scarlet you need to talk to me about this stuff. Don't shut me out," Soul pleads with me.

            "No! Just let go of me! Leave me alone! Please! I don't want anyone to see me like this!" I plead even harder with him and this makes him angry.

            "No! I will not leave you alone. No matter what happens, you will always be my Meister, and I will always be your weapon. But you see, I'm not just a weapon, I'm a shield. I may not look it but I am, in weapon form and human form, I'm a shield. Use me as one and don't let yourself deal with things on your own," Soul tells me softly.

            "Please, I'm used to dealing with stuff like this on my own. After all it was my parents inflicting it the most so I couldn't very well turn to them. So just let me go take care of it and when I get back I'll be the same smiling Scarlet that you know and love. Okay?" I plead and instead of letting me go Soul simply pulls me into his chest and puts his arms around me.

            "You just don't seem to get it. You will never face anything alone again. I'm here to help you and protect you. Please, just don't let yourself deal with this stuff on your own anymore. If you're pissed off, tell me. If you're happy, tell me. If you're sad, tell me. If you're lonely, depressed, angry, hungry, scared, ecstatic, or even just normal, then tell me. I'm here for you Scarlet, don't ever forget that. Now just tell me, do I need to kick someone's ass?" Soul speaks to me so genuinely that I break down and cry right into his chest and he just stands there and soothes me until I'm done. We wait a minute before returning to class so no one will know what happened out here. "You ready to head back now?"

            I simply nodded and Soul gently lead me to the gym so we could return to class. I clung near him as we entered and he walked me back to my machine.

            "The little brat can't even go to the bathroom without Soul. It's degrading and horrible of you to use him like that. He's not your servant, he's a weapon to be made into a death scythe. And he was the best until you got here," The first guy made the comment again.

            "You got something to say punk?! Cause let me tell you this, no matter what you say she will still be my Meister, and she can treat me as whatever she wants. But she chooses to treat me like a friend more than as a tool. And you know what else, I'm still the best weapon in this academy that hasn't transformed into a death scythe yet. So shut your trap about Scarlet before I shut it for you. I won't let you get away with bad mouthing my Meister. Not Maka, and never Scarlet. Maka, wouldn't have wanted my new partner to be ridiculed by everyone and she is the reason that you're still here and not dead. So respect her damn wishes and respect me. I will not hear of such words being spoken about Scarlet ever again, do you hear me? Even if I won't kill you, which I'm highly tempted to, I happen to know for a fact that there are people out there who will kill you for messing with Scarlet. So shut up, or be zipped up," Soul reeled on my verbal attacker and I stood up and placed my hand on his arm in a calming gesture before shaking my head as he looked at me. Irritated, Soul sighs and turns to the teacher. "We'll work with Scarlet and get her up to speed on our own. But for now just excuse us, we'd rather not deal with these basic classes so we'll be leaving, let us know when there are tests."

            Soul grabs my hand and starts pulling me out of class and the rest of the group follows. Soul doesn't stop until we reach a basketball court. He calls out to Kid and Black Star to play him two on one so he could blow off some steam after getting me to sit down on a bench right next to the court. I can't help but start crying again in the middle of him playing as I see just how angry he was on my behalf. Soul notices and throws down the ball rushing to my side. Soul kneels down in front of me and places one hand on my lap and with the other he brushes my hair out of the way of my face.

            "Scarlet, what's wrong. Come on talk to me," Soul asks worriedly and I just collapse into his arms as I apologize over and over. "Ssshhh. What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong. It was all that idiots fault."

            "It's because of me that you are so angry right now. If I hadn't come here, you wouldn't have had so much trouble already," I cried out. "And you wouldn't feel the need to defend me when I'm picked on. You decided to be there for me, unlike any one ever before. I'm sorry for all the trouble."

            "Shh. Scarlet, calm down. You have no reason to apologize, none whatsoever. You understand, I'd go to the ends of the world for you if I had to. You are my Meister Scarlet, I won't let anything happen to you. Not ever again," Soul holds me close and strokes my hair as I cry into his chest. His friends just stared at him wide eyed. "What? What is it guys?"

            "You only ever acted this way with Maka. We're just shocked to see that you already found someone again so fast," Kid responded.

            "What are you talking about? No one could ever replace Maka. You know that," Soul bites at his friends while still holding me.

            "True, but I can't help but wonder how long it will be before you play for her. If you do, just remember that it's okay and would make Maka happy," Kid smiled at him.

            "Whatever reaper boy. Look I'm going to take Scarlet home for a while. I think she could use it," Soul is about to move to take me home when he realizes that the paint might not be dry yet. And the room not ready. So Soul grabbed my cell and called Ashton. Surprised Ashton picked it up.

            "Scarlet? What's going on? You have class right now," Ashton asks through the phone.

            "It's Soul. I need to know how close you are with her room," Soul responds still holding me with one arm.

            "Wait what happened? Why are you using Scarlet's phone?" Ashton asked in a panic.

            "Relax, she's right here with me. Some idiot made her upset in class today and she excused herself to go to the bathroom . Now I'm taking her home. She's not up to doing much today, at least not right now," Soul responds rubbing my back with the one arm.

            "Okay got it. All we need to do now is get rid of the smell of paint in the room. Other than that we finished. The walls are just wet enough to keep emitting the scent but depending on where you are it should be fine when you get back with our skills," Ashton replies calmly. "Oh and who exactly was this idiot who messed with Scarlet?"

            "She wouldn't want me to tell you that and you know it. Anyways, thanks for helping with her room. We'll be there in about twenty minutes if I walk slowly. I'll see you then," Soul responds and then hangs up. After hanging up Soul picks me up in his arms and carries me bridal style. Then he said goodbye to his friends and began walking to the apartment. I just kept my face hidden in his chest as tears kept flowing and wouldn't stop.


	5. Chapter 5: The Dark Side

Chapter 5

The Dark Side

 

            About half-way back to the apartment I looked up at Soul and apologized again.

            "I know you said I shouldn't apologize for such things but I really do feel bad that I was responsible for you being torn away from your friends and leaving class," I can't seem to meet Soul's eyes.

            "Scarlet, just wait and see. After what they saw today you'll be like a little bird or something to my friends and they'll be right with me in wanting to hurt that jerk from class. They'll be around later. And besides dealing with classes is un-cool. I'm glad I got out of them. I'm just not glad that you being so upset had to be the reason. And not because I am upset about you being made-fun of and feel burdened with it, but because I wish you could simply be happy beyond belief here at the DWMA. I know I have made some of my best memories here that I wouldn't trade for the world. Both good and bad, I am glad I got the chance for them all," Soul smiles down at me still taking me to the apartment. "Besides I know you never met Maka, but I think you are exactly what she would have wanted for me."

            "Even still, if it weren't for my ineptitude I wouldn't be dragging you down," I told him upset that I was the reason he was forced back to the beginning and same with his friends.

            "Ineptitude? Okay care to dumb things down a bit for those of us with small brains?" Soul laughs at the end.

            "I mean my complete and utter lack of ability. My total suckage. My in-ability to do anything right," I sigh in defeat.

            "Okay, if that's how you think it is what was the topic in class today before gym?" Soul asks me and without thinking I respond.

            "How you cannot succeed in soul resonance with just anybody and how it is best to have a sound soul when in battle which requires a sound mind and a sound body. That's where the saying 'A sound soul, dwell's within a sound mind and a sound body.' We covered the first section of the first chapter basically," I reply to Soul like that was obvious.

            "See, you remembered all that and more from one class alone. If that's not doing something right, then I don't know what is. And besides in your case you're plenty athletic when wielding me. We'll just train you enough to keep that going even without me as a last resort," Soul smiles at me.

            "Remembering is not a big deal," I reply before muttering the last of my thought. "At least not anymore."

            "What was that last part?" Soul asks me knowing I said something.

            "Nothing," I reply laying my head back in his chest. "I'm tired."

            "You should sleep then. You had a lot of tough breaks today," Soul reply's as he tries to keep his steps even enough not to jostle me back awake.

            I slightly woke up again in my new bed in the apartment with Soul and Ashton arguing in hushed voices.

            "Why won't you tell me who this idiot was? He deserves what we'll give him for messing with Scarlet," Ashton nearly yells.

            "Be quite will you? She's asleep and I'd rather she not wake up just yet. Especially not when two people close to her are arguing. She's had a hard enough day, she doesn't need to worry about us too. And she especially doesn't need a call into the Death Room because you guys had to threaten, maim, or kill a student that you felt deserved it because he upset her. He pissed me off too but he doesn't deserve death or to deal with you idiots. At least not yet, I'll let you know if he goes further but right now it's all verbal," Soul tells Ashton all this in a hushed tone.

            I don't listen to the rest but rather pack a bag of things and my purse then write a letter to those close to me.

            " _I'm sorry for causing so much trouble. I'll be back eventually but I need to get stronger both physically and emotionally. Don't look for me and I promise I won't leave you without a meister forever. Soul please forgive me for being so selfish but I need to do this so I can find if I truly belong here or not. I have too many demons of my past to face before I can even attempt to be a good partner to you. I promise I'll return to help you fulfill your dream, but it may take a while._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Scarlet."_

            I left the letter on my desk to be found later and snuck out the window to get to the portal I came through. I would find out how to become strong, I will not rely on Soul to be there for every little detail. I will not be a burden any longer.

 

~Soul~

 

            A few hours after finally calming Ashton down and getting him to leave I decided Scarlet had slept enough. She had no need to do anything but if she kept sleeping she'll never get to bed that night.

            "Scarlet," I knocked on Scarlet's door. "Scarlet it's one in the afternoon now, you should get up. If you stay asleep much longer you won't be able to sleep tonight." There was no response from the other side of Scarlet's door so I knocked again. "Scarlet? I'm coming in okay?"

            I walked in the room and didn't see Scarlet in her bed where I left her. The closet was open and several of her clothes were missing along with her purse and another bag. I looked around her room and saw a paper with writing on it sitting on her desk. I read the message and cursed running for the door. I quickly got my shoes on as I pulled out my own phone and called my friends in a conference call.

            "What's up Soul?" Black Star answered.

            "We were just on our way over," Liz added.

            "Are you all together?" I asked them and was running out the door.

            "Yeah what's going on?" Kid asked growing suspicious.

            "Don't bother heading over to my place. Scarlet's gone," I replied in a panic. "I think she woke up to hear me and Ashton arguing about the bozo from class and decided she was too much of a burden on us so she left. She swore in her letter she'd be back so I could fulfill my dream but only after becoming stronger both physically and emotionally."

            "What the hell? Why would she think she was too much of a burden on you? I thought you told her otherwise," Liz responded.

            "I did, but I don't think she believes me. I'm calling Ashton after this but I'm going to start at the bus stop. If I don't find her there I'm going to need to know everything about her past. Especially the demons she thinks she needs to face alone," I tell my friends.

            "We'll search the city Soul. If we can't find her in an hour we'll go to the death room for some help. My father should be able to search through every mirror until he finds her. I just hope she doesn't end up somewhere bad," Kid reassures me up until that last bit.

            "Oh yeah thanks Kid. Cause I wasn't already worried enough. She has no idea what is out there. Not in this world," I grumble.

            "Sorry," Kid apologizes.

            "Let's just find her. I'm worried too," Tsubaki finally jumps in.

            We search all over the city but end up with no result. She has an unlimited credit card and can go anywhere. I think She caught the bus but I have no clue where she would go. I need Ashton's help. I sighed and pulled out my phone and called the twerp he answered after a few rings.

            "What do you want Soul? I was in the middle of torturing Scarlet's brother," Ashton responded upon answering.

            "Look I'm not happy about having to call either but you're going to wish you answered on the first ring unless by some miracle you have no reason to worry," I bite back at him.

            "What do you mean?" Ashton asks me suddenly very worried.

            "You did wake her up earlier. And now I can't find her. Scarlet left a note saying she'd be back eventually after becoming stronger without me. She's not in the city and I'm beginning to get really worried. She said something about facing the demons of her past in her letter. I need to know all of her past if I'm going to have any hope of finding her," I grit my teeth due to being forced to ask Ashton for help.

            "Idiot her past is in another world. She can only face it by retuning. If she trains there everything will be like a feather here. At least for her. But it's also dangerous if Scarlet went back to those people. It's illegal to run away there and she can be in serious trouble at her age. Either she went through the portal back to the other world, or Scarlet hopped on the first bus and is simply going to think along with travel," Ashton replies then completely realizes the severity of what he said. "Wait, in both situations she could very well die. Me and my clan kept her soul wavelength at bay before we followed her here. We knew how to channel it into us. But we aren't there anymore and could eat away at herself from the soul."

            "Yeah thanks for that added bit to worry about. I'll call you with an update from Lord Death if I don't go to her world first," I tell Ashton so he might not follow me.

            "You have no idea what it's like in her world if she's there and you're useless without her. Let us take care of the other world," Ashton replied angrily. "You are the one who let her slip out under your watch."

            "Oh I'm sorry, I was under the impression that I wasn't the only one who swore to protect her you idiot. And I'm not the one who woke her up in the first place. Besides your little channeling act won't work anymore. I'm her perfect partner. Her soul wavelength is not something you can even touch anymore without being injured. So I suppose we'll be needing each other. Meet me outside the Academy in a half hour. I'm almost to the Death Room so I'll see you then with where to find her," I begrudgingly admit my need for their help and go to the Death Room. "Lord Death I need your help."

            "I know," Lord Death responds solemnly. "Kid already told me. I'm afraid it's bad. She is not on any bus and not in the city or even this world. Scarlet went back to the other world. I don't know how but she found the portal."

            "Sir, everyone knows where the portal is. It's the sectioned off area of railing that was demolished. It's no secret and it's not like you'll fall from a cliff," I respond and sigh. "I'll bring her back. According to the Star Clan she is in grave danger just from being there."

            "The Star Clan is correct. If she's alone in that world, if she's without you, she will be in danger. Soul her Soul is quite possibly more powerful than my own, or will be someday. I'm willing to bet that with her in this world a reaper just simply won't be half as necessary. She won't even have to bind her Soul to one city to confine a Kishin the greatest of foes," Lord Death replied grimly. "She needs you to help control that power within her soul. Without you she will likely destroy herself before realizing her full potential."

            "I'll get her immediately. I will not let anything happen to my meister. Not ever again," I reply and go to meet the star clan and fill them in.

 

~Scarlet~

 

            I got through the portal and immediately saw my face on a poster. I had only been gone a few days. I headed back towards my former home and realized I was already getting sluggish. I know the truth now so I'll just have to fight through it until I get back to the DWMA. People stare at me as I walk down the street in my red dress with purposeful rips in the sleeves and bottom left hand portion of the dress. I had a big black belt and a red and black flowery umbrella. My black purse slung across my body and my black wedges that were peep toe booty type shoes. I had a small bag on my back as well and my dark sunglasses. I ignored the stares and went straight for the biggest house in town. My guardians were the richest people in town and would remain as such even after I'm gone from their lives. I walk to the gate and turn towards the guard.

            "Herald let me in. I need to speak to the Master and Mistress of the house. I would rather not be forced to stay long as I do have classes tomorrow," I look at the gate guard and he stares back in shock. "Come now it's only been a few days. I know I seem different already but still. Now let me in."

            "Milady. I'm sorry but your parents have been searching everywhere for you. Where have you been?" Herald asked me.

            "A boarding school they didn't want me to go to but I wanted to go to. Now let me in so I may speak with those horrible people who call themselves my parents. Also before I end up fainting from this dreadful heat," I demand.

            "Oh yes right away Milady. Should I call for a car to come get you as you wait inside the box?" Herald asked me.

            "No I'll make it on my own. I'd rather not use their things to get me to the front door," I respond and then begin walking upon the gate opening.

            I walk up the long driveway with my umbrella in hand and continue until I see them standing out front with their arms crossed. I stopped the moment I saw the people who claimed to be my parents all these years and wondered how they thought we were related at all. Our coloring was similar but other than that we were nothing alike. I stared at these two people and they glared back at me.

            "Get over here right now young lady. And you will be telling us where your brother is since he didn't arrive home with you," Martha, the woman who called herself my mother, called out.

            "I don't believe you'll be seeing him ever again Martha. I know he was your golden boy, but he tortured me enough and my friends decided to take care of him. So if you don't want to meet a similar fate I suggest you let me approach you on my own terms and know that you can't keep me here," I call back to them.

            "You get over here right now! Me and your mother have been looking everywhere for you and you are in big trouble. So get over here and accept your punishment before telling us where to send people to get your brother," Darren, my former father, yelled at me.

            "Yell, yell, yell. That's all you ever do with me when we aren't in public. YELL! I am sick of it, I am sick of you, and I am sick of your lies! I am not your daughter and you knew that. You had a daughter and when my real parents came begging to switch us back you denied them because she was healthy and it looks better on camera to coddle your sickly little girl than to confine your healthy one. I know this because I left. I know this because I denied you. I know this because I began to learn to fight. It won't be long before I can do just that with you and more. You will apologize to me and let me go free, or risk the truth being told to the press, see if your money lasts," I hold my chin up as I address them.

            "You're being ridiculous, of course we're your parents. You're simply creating some fantasy's again to try and escape the pressure of high society life," Martha smirks. "Besides if we weren't your parents why would we keep you when we knew you were sickly. Those medical bills weren't cheap you know."

            "I already said why, for the press. A frowning healthy daughter can't be explained away as easily as a frowning sickly daughter. You could simply claim that I was running another one of my fevers or having another episode," I finally walked up to them. "It's much easier to explain why your sickly daughter isn't allowed to go to school or play outside than it is to explain why a healthy daughter is being confined. With a sickly daughter you can hole her up and tell the press she's not feeling well and can't come outside so she's sad that she can't play outside. You can hold a sickly daughter easier than a healthy daughter because a healthy daughter might fight back. I was the one who got you where you are, and I'll be the one to destroy you."

            "You have no chance you insolent little girl," Martha slaps me after telling me this. "You will have a severe punishment in the basement tonight and will not be leaving this house again until after you check your attitude and learn to respect your parents."

            "Oh I respect my parents, I just don't respect the people who raised me and lied to me my who life," I respond calmly and she slaps me again.

            "GAURDS!!! Take her to the basement and chain her up. I'm afraid this insolent girl of mine requires some discipline," my mother demands and I'm grabbed by both arms and dragged to the basement door kicking and screaming. The guards drag me all the way down the stairs and chain me to the wall in a room. They then proceeded to leave the room and guard the door.

            I soon heard the sound of heels on the oh so familiar stone of the basement stairs. Martha and Darren converted an old castle into something modern so that no one would suspect there was a dungeon in their basement. A dungeon used to torture any who go against them. Martha appeared in the door way with a whip and a smirk. She whipped me mercilessly and only stopped after a guard told her there was a commotion at the gate, three hours after she started. My strength was not holding up well and it took everything I had to hold in my soul wavelength rather than fry her with it. Martha didn't deserve such a quick death.

            "I'll be back you little brat. When I return your father will be helping us with your discipline, but I think a night like this, unattended to, will do you good," Martha smirks but her smile falters when she sees the smile I bear on my own face.

            "You won't be able to hurt me anymore. Despite my asking him not to my partner came looking for me and he found me. You can tell because there is a commotion at the gate, if there weren't I'd still be getting whipped," I keep smiling and I get hit with another brutal slash of the whip.

            "Daryl you take care of the commotion, she clearly needs more of a whipping," Martha orders one of her guards and he nods. She returns to me and keeps whipping until there is no skin left to whip. She started by shredding my clothes but now that they're gone my skin has had a long time to get stung by the whip. About ten minutes of pure torture and the door to the basement was off its hinges. Less than a minute later, my cell was burst open as well and Soul stood there furious.

            "I'll deal with you later you idiot but first the one with the whip," Soul comments.

            "No you ignoramus, we'll subdue Martha you get Scarlet taken care of and covered. We'll bring her with us to Lord Death to await a trial," Ashton stopped Soul from dealing with Martha.

            "She's not from our world, we can't bring her to Lord Death for trial. He may end up hating her but he will still send her back here to be dealt with by her own authorities," Soul responds.

            "Heh, guess I messed up huh. Sorry to burden you again Soul," I manage to get out before coughing up blood. A bit of electricity runs across my skin and is surrounding the drops of blood coming from my mouth.

            "SHIT!" Soul runs to me and quickly undoes my bindings holding me tenderly and covering me using his jacket. "Don't even fucking bother with Lord Death. Lock her up next to her son, but know that I want a piece of this action."

            "Soul, you can't," I manage to say in my feeble voice before coughing some more.

            "Ssshhh, don't speak Scarlet. We'll get you some help as soon as we can," Soul tries soothing me. "Just take care of things here Ashton, I'll get Scarlet to the DWMA and get her some help."

            Ashton nods in response and Soul carries me out of there like he did earlier in the day. My head ended up resting on his chest and I was carried through the town like this, my umbrella forgotten, my purse and bag in the hands of the only Star Clan escort we had. No one was surprised to see me with one of the Star Clan, but everyone was surprised to see me in the state I was. Many people even took pictures and Soul just pulled me tighter into his chest to try and hide me from the stares of the people I once knew.

            "You are in so much trouble Scarlet. You could have died. And would you quit holding back you soul wavelength? I'm here now and I can handle it, let it go and I'll act as the translator for your soul to manage not to cause damage here," Soul tells me and, relieved, I release my dam on my power and Soul stumbles a step before regaining his balance. "I swear I better at least get to cut her once."

            "This is nothing, I'm used to it. Just make sure she realizes she can't hurt me anymore," I whisper.

            "She won't have time to realize it after all the pain that will be inflicted on her in response to the pain she inflicted on you. And what do you mean you're used to it?" Soul finally asks.

            "You'll find out soon," I mutter before passing out in Soul's arms.

 

~Soul~

 

            Soon after I finally found Scarlet she was passed out in my arms. I took Scarlet to the DWMA's infirmary for Doctor Stein to look her over. I reminded him not to do anything weird with her because Lord Death was fond and so was I. He waved me off saying he has no reason or ability to go to his normal scientific lengths for a Rosen. I was relieved until Stein called me back in with a grim look on his face.

            "Soul I've been looking her over carefully and it seems to me that Scarlet has been having this treatment for years. This line here seems to be a scar that is barely noticeable. I was lucky to see it while I was cleaning her wounds. She was lucky, whoever did this to her didn't have enough time to make her need stitches this time around so I should be able to eliminate all chances of scaring but she will need to be here in the infirmary for a few days and even when she does return home she won't be returning to class for a week from her leaving the infirmary. That's assuming she has a fast recovery. The poor girl is looking at the most likely case of a month of recovery before even returning to class," Stein tells me and I just nod.

            "Do whatever you have to so she doesn't feel as though she has more demons to face because of this. I really do hope you can eliminate all scaring this time around. Please let me know when you're done with treating her for the day so I can stay by her side," I stroke Scarlet's hair once before turning and leaving to wait in the hall way.

            "Hey man why are you waiting outside of the infirmary? I mean you're the best weapon in this academy, what lame-o could you be waiting on?" It was the jerk who started today's turn of events. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

            "What the hell is your name punk?" I asked this classmate extremely pissed off.

            "I-i-i-it's E-Edward," the punk responds.

            "Well then Edward I'm going to make this very clear and simple for you. I'm waiting here because you felt the need to pick on the weak to stroke your own ego. I'm here because you are responsible for Scarlet thinking she's too much of a burden on me and that she needed to face the demons of her past on her own. I'm waiting here for my partner who you caused to return to that other world, which simply being there could kill her now, and caused her to face the sadistic people who called themselves her parents. I am standing outside the infirmary waiting for my Meister who is in pain and can barely move because she felt she had something to prove, all because you, Edward, couldn't keep your mouth shut and let her get the encouragement she needed for continuing in class. The woman in that other world who called herself Scarlet's mother just brutally whipped her because of your thoughtless comments during class. So no I'm not waiting for any lame-o, as you worded it, I'm waiting for the one person who actually needs me right now and the one person who is giving me the will to kill," I rant at the little punk Edward as I still hold him up against the wall and of course Spirit had to come around the corner at the end of it.

            "Soul let him go. Just because we lost someone dear to us, doesn't give us the excuse to go around picking fights with freshmen of all things," Spirit tries desperately to pull me off of Edward.

            "Believe it or not Spirit but this isn't about Maka. This is about this punk being the cause of my new partner being stuck in that infirmary right now with Doctor Stein. This is about this little punk causing my partner so much mental turmoil that she decided she needed to face her past demons alone and ended up whipped nearly to the point of needing stitches. I'm sorry Spirit, I loved Maka, but right now I can't make her my priority," I respond to Spirit trying to pull me off.

            "Well is this what that partner of yours would want? Cause if she can handle being your partner she must be just as kind hearted, smart, bull headed as my Maka. So think about what your new partner would want before pummeling this idiot. Look I'll report him for you, it looks like your partner is ready to have a visitor now," Spirit attempts calming me down and it works, a little. I let the punk go and glare at him one last time before turning and rushing to Scarlet's side. I just hope she can forgive me for leaving her alone for even a second today.

            Scarlet laid there still asleep and covered in bandages. The only place not marred by a single scratch was her face. The woman who did this to her is unforgivable and deserves to have her family trashed and lose all their money for what she did to Scarlet. I couldn't believe that the happy person I know, covers the tortured and Scared person within. I'm almost shocked she doesn't flinch every time she's approached, but they probably beat that out of her as well. I don't think I've met anyone who was braver than her in my life, at least not in this way.

            "What happened over there?" Black Star asks me. "The clan wouldn't let me go."

            "It's probably for the best, we made a big enough scene to equate to one of your normal scenes as it is," I respond solemnly. "Besides you don't want to know what happened over there, it would just piss you off."

            "Well I do," Kid comments from the doorway. "I'm almost the new headmaster as it is so I told my dad I didn't care how close to the case I was, I wanted to take care of it this time."

            "What do you mean?" I ask Kid looking up startled.

            "Stein went to my dad and gave the full damage report along with a few photographs. Then Spirit came in saying how there's a kid partially responsible for this that you nearly ripped apart in the hallway. It only ever pissed you off enough to want to harm a student here when Maka was hurt, therefore I decided it was in all of our best interest if I took care of the matter rather than leave it up to my father. If you got this upset, something bad must have happened," Kid tells me and I almost get angry then realize Kid would side with me.

            "What you see here, the few bandages you can actually see, encompasses her entire body except for her face. She was whipped for an unknown number of hours by the woman who claimed to be her mother. But rather than fight back like she knew she could by releasing her soul, she held back the power so as to not harm more than just that woman. She risked herself for everyone else in that world, and she nearly died. Her soul was finally settling here, and happily so. So when she went back to that other world her soul finally realized how that place wasn't right for it or her and went haywire. Getting whipped deep enough to almost need stitches didn't help and she ended up with internal damage from holding back her power. That is what happened over there," I told them looking back at Scarlet.

            "Sorry I worried you," Scarlet said just after I looked at her and I was so shocked I jumped up from my chair in shock.

            "You scared me half to death damn it. Scarlet what could you have possibly been thinking trying to go back there," I reprimanded her.

            "I thought I could take care of my demons and become stronger," she smiled sheepishly before coughing again.

            "Damn it shut up before you get worse. I'll go get Doctor Stein," I began walking towards the door when a feeble hand grabbed a hold of mine.

            "Please don't go. I don't want to be alone," Scarlet told me quietly and I almost refuted her that Kid and Black Star were her when Black Star spoke up.

            "I'll get him, you go ahead and stay with Scarlet. She is your Meister after all," Black Star smiles kindly at us and I nod pulling the chair back next to Scarlet's bed and sit down.

            "Please forgive me Soul. I just didn't want to be such a hindrance on you anymore. That guy in class was right, what right do I have to be here other than my strong soul wavelength. Physically I'm as weak as they come, how could I ever even hope to help you become a death scythe," Scarlet began pleading before she turned her head in what seemed like shame.

            "Baka. It doesn't matter if you hinder my overall goal, it only matters that you're around right now. That you try your best. The moment you give up trying your best is the moment that you will upset me, because that moment will be when I know you have given up on yourself. I care about you as a person just as much as I care about what you want to help me accomplish. I promise that is the truth. So stop worrying so much about whether or not you're worthy, cause if you weren't worthy you wouldn't be my Meister, it's as simple as that," I turn her head gently so she would look me in the eyes when I said this to her.

            "Thank you Soul," Scarlet smiled at me.

            "Any time. Now would you shut up before you do more damage to yourself," I laugh at her need to have this conversation and just held her hand.

            Finally Doctor Stein and Black Star showed up and Stein gave Scarlet a check before testing a few things for internal bleeding. "Well I don't believe she's bleeding internally, if she were we would know by now. The blood she coughed up was likely simply a small amount of bleeding due to the strain of holding back her soul like that. If she was stuck in that world too long then she would have been close to death. I'd say it would have harmed her too much after twenty-four hours. Her soul has already adjusted to this world and feels more comfortable, as if it had breathing room. I think it's best if she has to go there to have her friends as escorts and to only be there for a few hours unless you help her Soul. You can stay one night in that world if you can manage to help her with her soul's wavelength that long."

            "Thank you sir. So when do you think I can take her home?" I asked as Scarlet began drifting again.

            "That's the one thing that shocks me, she's already healing at a rapid rate and if this continues should be able to go home in one to two days," Stein replies to me. "But I'll need to let Lord Death know about this development of hers."

            "Thank you. I'll be staying with her as much as possible until she's recovered," I tell Stein and he nods.

            "That's good because she ended up in this state because she was upset I think it best she not be alone at all for a while. And if she's got anyone who could worsen her condition or annoy her I'd keep them away," Stein adds on.

            "Got it. I'll kick out the cat and keep her from school," I nod to Stein and then look down at Scarlet as she slept soundly already.

 

~Scarlet~

 

            I woke up the next day with Soul sitting on the chair looking out the window in thought. I stared at him for a bit when he finally turned as though he was checking on me and when he saw I was awake his eyes widened in shock for a millisecond before softening and he smiled.

            "Hey. How long have you been awake?" Soul asked me.

            "Not long," I responded my voice still hoarse from sleep. "What were you thinking about?"

            "Something that I hope might lift your spirits when I take you home. Stein says you can go home this afternoon if you promise to stay home and rest for at least a week," Soul tells me.

            "Oh. Cool. But how's that possible? I-I've never recovered so fast," I was bewildered.

            "Yeah, care to explain that one?" Soul's smile darkens a tad and I shake my head with eye's slightly wide. "Because Doctor Stein said there were a few scars that looked like the same wound but years older."

            "Yeah, honestly I'm surprised she whipped me at all. I thought she got bored of that one," I responded awkwardly turning my head.

            "What do you mean by that? And you said that this was nothing, that you were used to this. What all has she done to you?" Soul asked me and I lost it. I didn't want to protect Martha or Darren, but I didn't want to admit to what they did to me either.

            "I don't want to talk about it okay," I responded in a sullen voice.

            "No it's not okay. What did you mean Scarlet?" Soul persisted.

            "JUST LEAVE IT ALONE!!! It's not something I particularly enjoy thinking about. Don't even bother going to the Star Clan, they don't know either. They just know that there were times that I wouldn't let them see me for a long time. So drop it already," I blew up at him.

            "Scarlet, I can't drop this. I just want to help and give that woman what she deserves for what she did to you. For everything she ever did to you," Soul gently grabs my hand and I yank it away from him.

            "I don't care if that's what you want, Soul. I just don't want to talk about it. Martha can still get punished for all I care, you just won't know what all for. I'll take care of her myself later too. I don't particularly care for her but just because I hate Martha, that doesn't mean I'll tell you everything," my voice was cold and Lord Death had just walked in with the student from class at the end of that.

            "You need to wait in the hall boy," Lord Death told the jerk from class. "Scarlet what's going on here?"

            "Lord Death, she won't tell me everything that the woman who whipped her did. This woman has, as it seems, done worse that whip her to the point of scars and she won't tell me what," Soul responds in a respectful tone.

            "Tell us Scarlet," Lord Death demands.

            "No," I respond flatly.

            "Tell us right now or else!" Lord Death uses his scary voice that he hides for the children and I just sit up and look him straight in the eye.

            "I said no and I mean no. Do I look like I am willing at all to talk about this? Before you answer the correct answer is, NO. I'm not afraid of you, because I'm not afraid of death. Let's just say I've actually ended up rather pissed off at death and it's concept because I ended up begging for it at times and it never came. So no Lord Death, I will not be telling anyone, anything about my past and you cannot make me. Torture won't work and fear won't work. So just forget it was ever mentioned and tell me what you came here for," my voice was so cold that I could hear the jerk from class shiver outside the door. Soul looked at me in shock and Lord Death seemed frozen. Of course more people also showed up right at that time and they froze on the spot. Among them was the girl known as scary before who I have come to know as basically Lord Death's assistant, Azusa Yumi.

            They all just stared at me in shock and then I noticed some of my clothes at the foot of the bed and slowly got up on my own. I grabbed the bundle of clothing and changed behind a screen so I could go home. I knew I wasn't about to be allowed to leave but I may as well get ready for it.

            "I came here to make the young man who was the catalyst for all of this apologize and have him make it up to you however you saw fit. But now I see that two of my best friends just may have to come out here to meet their daughter. This way maybe she'll learn to let people in," Lord Death responded.

            "I'll think on a proper punishment during my leave of absence. I'm well aware that I'm not returning to class for a while. As for those friends of yours I would like to meet them, but under my terms and when I'm not about to scare them. Bringing them here now will likely just cause a rift between us from the start," I finish changing into the same outfit I wore on the first day I arrived and came out from behind the screen.

            "I'm sorry but I can't do that. Your parents need to know what's going on, you'll have to deal with them being here sooner rather than later," Lord Death tells me. "As for that young man's punishment, as long as it's nothing that will harm I will let you have free reign of his punishment. I don't see any reason to do otherwise."

            Finally I went home and Soul didn't leave me alone and kicked Blair out for the week. I was fine with no Blair but I need my privacy and my alone time. Soul was becoming slightly overbearing, but I knew worse and therefore ignored it. Soul was very kind and treated me special the entire time then one day, when I felt down about being a burden again he finally showed me what he was wanting to lift my spirits. Soul took me to a room I was unaware of in the apartment and unveiled a beautiful piano. He showed me this in less than a day.

            "I'm not sure if you'll like it, but I don't play for basically anyone. I don't even play when Blair is around. The cat just might need to find her own place already so that I can play more, but I wanted to share this with you," Soul smiled softly at me.

            "It's wonderful. I love the piano, it's melodies are wonderful and when played right it can also sound like other things a bit, less melodical. I have loved classical music since I was young and began Ballet. The piano is the best instrument for Ballet," I smile at one of my few good memories.

            "I'm glad. Please sit anywhere, I'll introduce you to my music. It's a piece of me so it's changed a bit since the last time, but I'll still be able to play well," Soul grins devilishly. He sits down at the piano bench and begins his melancholy tune. The words simply spill into my head and I can't help but sing them out loud.

            " _My heart was taken, and I thought I'd soar. But then we fought and fought some more. We had our battles, we had our bloodshed. We fought for good, but evil grabbed them instead. They kept my heart, in their jacket, and with them gone, it has shattered. Now it's returned, and yet still scarred. I haven't healed yet, and met someone else. They are kind to me, they care for me. They even dare to dream of me. But I am distant, and afraid. I am lonely, but that's okay. The light is there, it's not so far, it's not my dreams, it is them. The other half, has returned. My heart is healing, but theirs are worse. Their past is dark, their nights are feared. Their family scares them, but I have no fear. I will beat them, I will fight. Until such time, they sleep through the night. Lovely thoughts there, in their head. A lovers words met, in a cage. Their soul is light, their soul is strong. But there's a weight there, holding them down. The darkness of the innocent past, the chain shall be shattered, by a friend. Their past holds them, their past denies them, all the happiness, that they deserve. We are together, and I shall win, let the darkness, hold no sway. I will beat it, and open my arms. Their dark past, shall be gone. And now they're here, within arm's reach, but the chains there, just past the breach. So now I battle, until I can no longer fight. For their right, to be free of fright. As I heal, their hearts scars, they are there, healing mine."_ I felt the words in my soul and Soul opened his eyes in shock at the end, looking at me in wonder.

            "How'd you do that?" Soul stood up and came to me with super speed it seemed. "No one could ever put words to my songs."

            "No one could ever put songs to my words. You're not the only one with a bad break up," I shifted uncomfortably.

            "But my past isn't darkness and fear," Soul responds. "Those were my exact thoughts without placing genders. And you sang them perfectly with my song. How?"

            "I don't know. The lyrics kind of just popped into my head. I feel them deep down just before they bubble up and I have to write them. I have tons but I can't pin down the music. I can't write music, I can only listen and sing to it. It's something I've done for years but it was never good enough. So I stopped putting it out there. I became 'Scarlet Black, the girl who quit choir to become a nurse.' It was taboo in my school to not be honors, or in performing arts, or both. It was even more taboo to go to school off campus for half the day. I was the girl in none of the above that went to another school half the day. I chose nursing, my practical goal in life, over choir and honors classes with whacked out class schedules. So that's why no one knows my lyrics," I confess it all and he raises his brows.

            "Show me them," Soul looks at me in awe. "Please, I need to see them."

            I take Soul to my room and show him my lyrics. The happy, the sad, the angry. All of them. Soul read each one and once he was done stacked them up into two piles.

            "These lyrics are all thoughts I've had while playing the piano over the years. These lyrics I have no connection to. Why are most of these so sad?" Soul looks at the latter of the two piles.

            "Growing up with basically a nanny instead of a mother and father, isn't exactly all happy go lucky. Oh and a lot of those are from when I was going through a pretty bad break up like, a year ago. The jerk broke my heart. Now that I think about it I haven't heard from him or of him since, like, three months after he broke up with me," I tilt my head quizzically. "Huh, I guess they did kill him." I shrug.

            "Cause that's not scary," Soul raises his eyebrows at me. "Anyways, the happy one, the sad ones, the angry ones, all of these, all thirty of these, were things I thought when playing piano, dating back to when I first played a single note."

            "But how's that possible?" I ask Soul and he shakes his head.

            "I don't know, but I'll try to find out. However, your parents might be better help in this situation than me. Just saying," Soul presses and I sigh.

            "Yeah, I get it. Play nice with the parents I've never met. They didn't leave me with those jerks on purpose," I roll my eyes.

            "Yes, and also you should probably cook for them since you're their only daughter and they haven't met you so it might help," Soul smirks at me and I laugh in response.

            "True, I could butter them up with buttered rolls," I wink at him and Soul breaks down into laughter. After that Soul decides I've walked enough for one day and picks me up carrying me to the couch and kissing the top of my head to remind me he cared.

            "Just so you know, you cooking isn't happening during this visit. I'm sure I'd be castrated if I let you cook so soon after  surgery. I'll be cooking all meals all week, and probably a bit longer," Soul pulls out a few things to start cooking.

            "But what about lunch? I'll need to eat while you're in class," I look at him confused and he doesn't turn my way.

            "I'm not missing much. I've had these classes before and taking care of you is more important. I won't leave you alone to end up in another self destructive situation," Soul tells me with a finality that I don't need to see his eyes to read.

            "Okay, sorry you can't hang out with your friends cause you're babysitting me," I look down and he laughs.

            "As if I could get rid of them so easily? No they'll show up tomorrow with food in hand, insisting that they give me a break from cooking and let me relax with you. Then the girls will talk to you non-stop as I end up cooking. It's the cycle," Soul smiles at me from memories and with that all conversation is dropped until later. When a knock sounds at the door.


	6. Chapter 6: Explanations are Not Always Enough

Chapter 6

Explanations are Not Always Enough

            Soul answers the door and smiles before stepping aside to let in his friends. The girls immediately ran to my side and began fussing.

            "You had us so worried," Tsubaki told me.

            "You idiot you should have known you belong here," Liz commented.

            "Hehe, you looked funny," Patty is her usual self.

            "I already told her she was being stupid," Soul told them as he leaned on the back of the couch right where my head was. "I gave her the whole scolding multiple times."

            "Did you play piano for her?" Kid asked and Soul blushed scratching his head.

            "I don't know what you're talking about," Soul reply's and then sighs. "I need to make dinner."

            "Let us do that Soul, I'm sure you'd rather be with your Meister," Tsubaki said in her sweet way.

            "Thanks Tsubaki but let's face it, you're the only one who ever helps cook the food around here," Soul reply's.

            "I could help," I said about ready to get up when Soul leaped over the couch and landed at a crouch right in front of where I was laying.

            "Don't you even try to get up. You are on bed rest remember," Soul puts a hand on my shoulder. "You'll have plenty of time to do what you want when you recover."

            "But Soul, the whole reason I got like this was cause I felt like a burden," I told him and he just shook his head smiling.

            "I don't care, there are still bandages on you and it hurts for you to move. I want you safe, happy, and healthy okay. So you are going to rest here and let me take care of dinner. Tsubaki said she'll help me so you don't need to worry about it. Now let me dote on you and show you how much you matter. I won't be doing this for long so you should milk it while you can," he smiles at me to reassure me and I quickly wrap my arms around him tears filling my eyes at his kindness. He just calmly places one of his arms around me hugging me and then gently pushes me back onto the couch.

            "Please Soul, at least let me sit in the kitchen with you while you cook. I have strength enough for that," I ask of him softly and he just laughs a bit shaking his head at my persistence.

            "I'd need someone there to keep you from cooking and I don't have that, those four never step foot in my kitchen," Soul looks at me with worry in his eyes. "And you sitting up would just worry me when I wasn't right next to you."

            I sigh and then nod. Soul smiles at me and stroked my hair once before standing up and going to cook dinner. Liz, Patty, Kid, and Black Star kept me company by telling me of all the different adventures they used to have. At one point they told me how they were made a team and how they were going to do so many things before and how they were going to take me to the beach with them and show me that we were going to become just as close of friends as they were before with Maka. However when Maka was mentioned, I went silent and became withdrawn. I knew I was constantly compared to Soul's former partner, to Maka Albarn. It got to the point that I wondered when they would differentiate between us. That was a day I looked forward to.

            "Alright foods ready," Soul comes in and puts a hand on top of my head and crouches down to talk to me. "So I'll give you options. Seeing as you can't eat while laying down, you can either have us all eat in here and I'll sit next to you on the couch or we can sit at the table if you really want to."

            I smile at Soul. "I think I'll take the table option. That way I don't need to hold onto my plate as well," I tell him and he nods standing up.

            "I'll be right back," Soul goes back to the kitchen and I guessed him and Tsubaki set the table. After about two minutes Soul came back and lifted me without asking and I groaned.

            "I can walk Soul, you know I can," I told him. It was sweet that he was doting on me but I didn't want to be carried everywhere. I wanted to get stronger.

            "You're still getting your strength back, you can walk around like normal tomorrow. You've walked enough for today," Soul told me as he sat me down in a chair at the table and sat next to me. On my other side was Tsubaki. The only two that there was a guarantee they would be calm and normal while next to me.

            "So what did you guys talk about while we were making dinner," Tsubaki asked and Black Star immediately answered.

            "All the awesome times that I showed just what a big star I am," was his response and Tsubaki giggled.

            "I'm sure," she smiled at him. "You sure are awesome Black Star."

            "We also told her about the beach trip that we wanted to go on. I told her that we'd show her just how close of friends we could become," Kid added on making sure Soul knew that Kid would support him.

            "Me and Patty told her about some cute shops in nearby towns but Patty was mostly her usual self of course," Liz put in what she had to say.

            "Well so long as it's not as rigorous of a shopping trip as last time, let us know when you want to go," Soul joked with me and I let out a small laugh.

            Soul had made some great food and I found that I liked more food here in this world. Before long we were laughing and having a grand time. That is we did until Kids pocket began ringing.

            "Yes dad? I'm a bit busy with my friends right now," Kid sighed annoyed that his father would interrupt him.

            "Oh so you are with Soul and Scarlet right now then, good, good. Please put them on, I can't seem to get a hold of them through their mirrors," Lord Death said and Soul grabbed the mirror from Kid.

            "Yes Lord Death? What is it?" Soul responds for me.

            "Well I told Scarlet's parents and I'm afraid they refused to listen to reason. They demanded your address and should be there in about ten minutes. Their private Jet is awfully fast and they are very worried. You're friends don't have to leave or anything but I thought you should have a heads up before they got there. I was trying your mirror for hours but no one answered, otherwise I would have warned you sooner," Lord Death tells us and my eyes go wide with shock.

            "Just how close do they live?" I asked thinking that them living in a near city would be the only explanation as to how they could get here by Plane in ten minutes.

            Everyone began laughing. "Scarlet, they live halfway across the country," Kid informs me. "Their plane could get them here in about twenty minutes it's so fast."

            "How is that possible?" I asked doing the math as best I could and assumed they'd have to be traveling at a rate of about two thousand miles an hour.

            "Same way soul wavelengths are. It just happened," Soul responds and rubs my back. "It'll be fine, besides this is your chance to meet your parents finally."

            "Just make sure she doesn't do anything that could worsen her condition until then. Remember she should only walk a little bit today. Tomorrow she can walk like normal around the apartment. The next day around town. But no running for a week," Lord Death told us. "Bye now."

            We continued talking and eating until we all finished. This left us with less than five minutes to get everything cleaned up before my parents got here. Soul told me that I wasn't allowed to help and just picked me up and put me on the couch. I tried to get up but he gently pushed me back down.

            "Scarlet, you couldn't even fight against that. What makes you think that you're ready for helping us clean up. Don't worry Kids got this. He's obsessed with symmetry and perfection so they'll be perfectly clean. And Liz and Patty are remarkable at getting him to do things faster. Just stay here. You can sit up but I don't want you working too hard, or at all for that matter," Soul told me calmly.

            "But I'm not even properly dressed to meet my parents. Who by the way are extremely wealthy as it turns out," I pointed to my ripped jeans, black long sleeve shirt, and grey vest. It was some of my most comfortable outfits. "At least let me go to my room and put on some light makeup and accessories."

            Soul weighed his options and sighed. "I suppose this is important to you so come on. At least let me come with you to make sure you're okay," Soul extended his hand to me and helped me up. We went to my room and I brushed my hair, put on red lipstick and mascara, and added a long geode necklace and black fedora. However he didn't let me walk on the way back and as luck would have it the door bell rang just as he put me down on the couch. "Please stay here. I'm just letting them in."

            I nod and Soul goes to the door and opens it. Standing on the other side of the door were two worried people, a man and a woman. They were an average height and the woman had long wavy mahogany brown hair and porcelain skin. The man had similar hair with a bit more red in it and had electric blue eyes. The two clutched each other as they looked at Soul.

            "You must be Scarlet's parents. I'm her partner Soul Eater Evans. Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Rosen. Scarlet's just on the couch there and is healing fine. Please come in," Soul let in my parents after returning his greeting but they didn't give their first names. When they got inside the apartment and saw me they rushed over.

            "Oh my, you truly are our baby girl. Scarlet sweetie how are you feeling?" the woman who was my mother asked me.

            "Baby we are so sorry to have left you with those people. We should have brought some guards or something to switch the two of you in the night. You've been through so much, and we feel awful," the man who was my father added.

            I couldn't respond as tears pooled in my eyes. I smiled at them to show them that I was fine but couldn't respond. I don't think they got what the smile was for cause they just started freaking out and asking how they could help. Soul laughed and came over to us. He sat on the couch next to me and wrapped his arms around me to allow me to cry.

            "It's alright Mr. and Mrs. Rosen, Scarlet's just extremely happy and relieved that's all. As you said she grew up with horrible parents and finding these new ones in you made her extremely happy. She's been through a lot so her happiness came out in tears. I'm sure she'll be ready to talk soon," Soul was rubbing my back  as he draped me across his lap and let me cry into his chest. Luckily I only have waterproof mascara that I have severely tested. It was already dry before I started crying so it wasn't getting all over his shirt. I just cried into Soul's chest for the next several minutes before the sobs finally died down and he just kept rubbing my back and reassuring me that it's all okay, and that he was glad I was happy. Finally my tears died down enough that I could turn to them and smile a better smile.

            "I'm so glad to have finally met you. I just wish it were under better circumstances and in a way that I wasn't about to cry through the first several minutes of your visit," I told them. "I'm Scarlet, and I'm so glad to have found my real parents after all this time living with liars."

            "Oh, sweetheart, we're glad to have found you as well. We just feel awful for what happened all this time," my father told me. "Oh, you probably don't know our first names do you. I'm Harvey and she's Beth, and we're your birth parents. We're so glad we could finally meet you in person."

            "You truly are our baby girl. We know it because you look just like us, you have our hair, and your fathers eyes. We missed you so much," my mother smiles at me and I hug them.

            "Thank you, for finally showing me my home," I whispered in their ears and Soul left to go entertain our friends while me and my parents began talking. I learned that they were the absolute richest family in the world and they said that I didn't have any siblings but that my cousin had begun living with them a year ago after his parents deaths. They said that they had asked him to come a bit slower so as to not shock me in how fast I was meeting people after my surgery. They told me of all of their projects and how they are the CEO's of multiple hospitals and other service organizations of the like. They asked about me and I told them that I wasn't ever much of anything besides a puppet but that I was slowly able to gain more free will over the years and at the start of high school I insisted on going to public school. I told them that was how I met the star clan and how they had spent the last couple years protecting me. I told them how much I enjoyed this world and how much I looked forward to spending time with them. They then hugged me and told me how much they loved me and apologized again for leaving me with those people. I told them it wasn't their fault and insisted they forget about it. Eventually Soul came back and joined us after a bit I ended up yawning though, without intending to, and Soul insisted on me getting some rest. My parents smiled and thanked Soul for taking care of me. Soul showed everyone out as politely as he could and then kneeled down next to me.

            "Come on Scar, time for you to go to bed. You're exhausted and will have another big day tomorrow," Soul picked me up and I linked my arms around his neck.

            "Thank you Soul," I whispered as I fell asleep. I could feel as he gently took off my accessories and sat me down.

            "Scarlet, I need you to wake up for me, just for a minute okay?" I nodded as I was barely awake. "I need to know how you want help getting changed. Should I get one of the girls, call back your mother? What should I do Scar?"

            "Don't bother them when they just left. I can do it," I mutter as I start changing. "Just stay nearby and close your eyes."

            "Okay," Soul gave a small smile as he sits down on the floor and closes his eyes, waiting for me to finish. Finally after a lot of work trying to change when exhausted, I was in my pajama's. Once in my pajama's I let Soul know it was safe to look and he stood up before lifting me. "Come on, let's get you to bed Scarlet." He laid me down and began stroking my hair as I fell into a deep sleep.

            I woke up several hours later along with the sun and saw that I was alone for the first time in a long time. I sat up and relished in the feeling for a minute before getting up and going into the common area. Soul looked up when he noticed me.

            "Hey Sleeping Beauty, it's almost eleven, if you hadn't woken up soon I would have had to go wake you up," Soul smiled at me as he got up and guided me to the couch. "I know being cooped up in here isn't your idea of awesome, but you can walk around town, supervised, tomorrow. So just hang in there for one more day. Brightside I'll let you walk around today. No cooking and cleaning yet but I trust you can generally sit up on your own today."

            "Thanks Soul. Um, but I don't think you should have to keep cooking for me so often. Let me cook dinner at the very least," I ask him, hoping for the chance to do something.

            "Tomorrow, I'll let you do anything you want while in our apartment and walk around town and shop with me and the guys. But today you get to walk and do anything that's not strenuous. Promise me you won't go overboard today Scarlet," Soul grabs my hand and crouches in front of me.

            "Fine, I promise," I roll my eyes at him.

            "Oh, Lord Death called while you were still asleep. Your cousin should be here in about an hour if you want to get dressed," Soul casually tells me this and my eyes go wide.

            "And you think it's a good idea to tell me this after getting me to sit down?" I get up and begin walking to my room before I remember I just woke up. I went to the fridge and grabbed some soda then went to my room. When I get in my room I look in my closet for something to wear and decide on something decently comfortable and yet still fashionable.

            I put on a white t-shirt and red jeans paired with black leather studded ankle boots. I accessorized with small gun shaped earrings, a single triple chain necklace, a black leather studded bracelet, and a red mini jacket with three-quarter length sleeves. I put my hair up in a pony tail and put on black smoky eye shadow with red lipstick, blush, and mascara. Finally I exit my room and smell the aroma of delicious food as Soul comes close to finishing. I start towards the kitchen when the bell rings and I get a bit excited.

            "I'll get it Soul!" I call out to him.

            "Okay but check who it is first," he tells me.

            "Like that'll do me any good when I'm meeting a cousin who's face I've never seen before," I laugh as I open the door and he sighs.

            "Hi, you must be Scarlet. I'm your cousin Damian, it's so great to finally meet you," my cousin tells me as he extends his hand.

            "Likewise, it's great to meet you. And yes as you surmised I'm Scarlet. Come on in, I'll introduce you to my weapon partner Soul Eater Evans," I smile at him and he comes in. I close the door behind him.

            "I'm surprised you live here and not in some mansion, guess you're trying to live off of what you earn yourself," he smiles. "That's noble."

            "I'm sorry, what? I thought this was provided by the school," I looked at him confused.

            "I hadn't gotten a chance to tell you yet and Lord Death had just been depositing your allowance directly to your account until I could let you know," Soul turns to Damian. "I'm Soul, her partner."

            "Sorry, I figured she knew," Damian apologized as he shook Soul's hand.

            "It's fine, I just never got around to it. I lived here with my last partner so it kind of just happened that we ended up staying," Soul responded.

            "Wait, have you been paying rent this whole time by yourself then Soul?" I ask him and he laughs shaking his head.

            "No way, Blair has been paying the rent for a while now since she keeps schmoozing off of us. We buy all the groceries and what not but she still intrudes, so one time me and Maka just told her she can pay rent if she wants to stay here. We kind of tricked her and told her that her share was higher than it would be. We've been mooching off of her a bit since I guess," Soul just shrugs.

            "I still feel a little bad, but at least it's that dumb Blair and not you who's been paying the rent," I sigh then turn to my cousin. "Sorry, I'm really rather new here so I don't know that much yet. But I do know our third roommate is a really annoying cat with an obscene amount of magical power."

            "Ah, I see why her paying made you feel better," he chuckled a bit.

            "And why she's not around right now. I'll probably start making payments and have Lord Death just have some of your allowance go into an auto pay system to pay your part of the rent if you'd like," Soul shrugs.

            "Thanks, now what the heck did you make for food," I was getting hungry.

            "Stir fry, I took it off the burner for a bit to come meet your cousin. It'll be done in a couple minutes. You two should sit down and talk until then," Soul said and I nodded. I showed Damian to the couch and sat down next to him.

            "You look amazing by the way. And it's almost scary how much you look like your parents, unlike the girl who ended up being switched with you. Your parents did raise her but they also made her a maid in the house most the time. They told her she didn't have to and that they would take care of her like normal until she was ready to move out, but she insisted on helping out so she's now part of the help," Damian smiled at me.

            "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself," I was getting a bit shy.

            "Look. I need to tell you something. Your parents think I should transfer here since I already have a weapons partner available and they want you to be safe. I'm sort of going to be one of your guards. You'll have multiple soon but they won't be seen unless absolutely necessary. I'm not even supposed to tell you all this, but I figured you deserved to know," Damian said to me grimly.

            "Thank you. But what do you mean by guards? I have plenty of people sworn to guard and protect me, and they have been loyal for years," I give him a puzzled look.

            "Your parents aren't happy with who you already have as guards and wants to slowly replace them. Please, tell the Star clan to stay away for a while. I doubt they could do well against your parents trained guards," Damian pleads and I snort.

            "I doubt the trained guards would last a day unless I told them not to touch the trained guards. These people are trained assassins. They've been trained since birth and have been in a world where soul wavelengths are not easy to find being anything but suppressed or too small to do much of anything. Every soul here is bigger than the native ones to there. My parents trained guards would die," I smile at him. "But I will tell them to work with the guards."

            "That might ease your parents a bit," Damian laughed. "You have a lot of trust in the Star clan. Why is that?"

            "Let's just say they've done more for me than even I'll ever know. They decided to devote their lives to guarding and serving me as a worthy master, or mistress I suppose. This means that anything they perceive as a threat may very well end up neutralized," I smile a nostalgic smile. "They've always been there for me ever since I started high school a couple of years ago and they swore to be there for me for as long as I am willing to have them."

            "I see, well I guess you're pretty lucky huh?" Damian looked at me with a small smile.

            "She isn't really all that lucky, not growing up at least. What do you think caused her to end up with a group of trained assassins swearing their undying fealty to her when she was only in high school?" Soul said a certain darkness in his voice as he leaned against the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. "She hasn't even told her parents everything I know yet, nor Lord Death. He tried getting information out of me, but I know it's her story to tell, not mine. You have no right to deem her lucky until you know at least all that I know. But by the time you do know all that I know, you'll regret ever even thinking it, I know I do."

            "Soul, when did you come in?" I was startled by the darkness in his voice. Soul stood up from leaning and came over to sit behind me on the couch pulling me closer to him.

            "Right about the time he questioned why you trusted the Star clan so much. Hey I wonder what Ashton is thinking right about now after likely hearing all that. Even though he knows you'd be home all day he texted me that he was going to be randomly checking on you from the shadows for a very long time. I don't blame him, I'm not sure even I want to ever leave your side knowing as much about what you've been through as I do," Soul starts rubbing my back then he looks to my cousin. "Her luck only just started being good after I got her away from that world a second time. Now even Lord Death is likely to be having someone watch her after what ended up happening last time she was there in that other world."

            "Sorry. But aren't you a bit over protective for her new weapon partner? Especially when you just recently lost your previous partner, Maka Albarn was it?" Damian asked just to be rude.

            "Do not disrespect the dead Damian. Neither of us knew her but she meant a lot to Soul and that means she means a lot to me now. As his Meister I fully intend to defend him in the few ways possible. Stopping all disrespect towards his previous Meister is part of that," I glare at my cousin.

            "Whoa, sorry, I just felt like he shouldn't be so quick to say stuff like that so I gave him a bit of his own medicine," Damian apologized to me.

            "I'm not the one you should apologize to, Damian. And Soul did nothing wrong, he was right that you have no right to judge just how lucky I am when you haven't seen my scars or lived through seeing me just after one of my worst punishments. Soul has done a lot for me and he has earned a right to judge me a bit now. You just met me today and have earned no such right. I know your parents died, and I'm sorry I didn't get to meet them, but that doesn't make me lucky to have had several people looking out for me as opposed to you who moved into a mansion with caring people, caring family to look after you. As far as I'm concerned, I'd call you the lucky one. However I don't know what your life has been like so I refuse to actually judge you until I do know more about you. Like Soul said, even Lord Death doesn't know as much as he does, and even he doesn't know as much as the Star clan does. He will soon, but that's a whole different matter entirely. Now do what's right Damian," I lecture.

            "I'm sorry for questioning you about your closeness with my cousin and mentioning you deceased partner, Soul. I didn't realize there was so much to all this, however that is no excuse as I should have thought more about all of this and waited just like everyone else in her life," Damian bows his head a bit.

            "It's fine. But please don't bring her up again, I really cared for my previous Meister, just as I care for Scarlet," Soul nods then looks down at me. "The foods ready if you're hungry."

            "Starving, Damian would you like to join us?" I offer.

            "No, I promised your parents I'd eat with them after seeing you. I'd best get back," Damian stands up to leave. "I hope to spend more time getting to know you."


	7. Chapter 7: Resonance Bond

Chapter 7

Resonance Bond

 

            After dinner Soul asked if I'd like to go hang out in the piano room with him and I smiled remembering our discovery. I eagerly agreed and got up. He smiled as he led the way once again to his hidden room that housed his most precious and secret treasure. He told me that his friends knew he played but didn't know where he would play for Maka in the past. Apparently whenever he had been alone, Soul would play the piano to expel all of his stress before someone came home. I laughed at that and told him that he should share his gift with the world.

            "I would but, I feel like being a weapon is more important so I just sort of made it my escape from the world," Soul told me shrugging.

            "I suppose I didn't sing in front of others much before. Nor had I shared my lyrics with any one before," I smile realizing the similarities between us tying us together.

            "Anyway, I feel inspired and thought you were someone I was willing to play for. If you don't mind please take a seat anywhere," Soul gestured to the seating around that I believe was mostly for decoration since they all looked hardly used. I eventually decided to sit on the closest furniture to the piano, his red fainting couch. Oh the irony. Soul then sat down at the piano and loosened himself out before closing his eyes and touching the keys that he had memorized. It started soft and melodic as he played the intro. Slowly it got more dissonance mixed in and I suddenly couldn't stop the emotional words that filled me as I began to sing along.

            " _I was alone for so many years, and now I have finally found my home. Those who would have cared, those who would have loved, those who wished I were there long before. Once I had found them, their apologies raddled my brain, their excuses caused me to feel some shame. I'm lost in finding how to heal, all I know is my former pain. The times I spent huddled and afraid, can never be erased, nor forgotten. They begged me to forgive them, claiming they wished they had known, but with the power at their hands, they could have always found out. I know they didn't mean, me harm, they didn't see, what I'd been shown. No apology, no amount of love, could ever erase, what's been done. Have they known my pain, known my sorrow? I couldn't think so. Had they ever even checked, through the mirrors in their hands? Had they ever even tried, to know my life? The power they held was always there, the power they held could have stopped, my dark past. Yet while I'm upset, and as I cry inside, the only blame I can place, is within myself. No matter if I scream, no matter if I beg, the whip would only hit me, as they said I was bad. How could I ever, blame someone besides myself? How could I blame, the ones who loved me? I only know one side of things, even if they told me, I know how it's seen. I was abandoned, I was somehow in the wrong. They regretted losing me, as they always claimed, yet they never looked, to see if I was okay. Whatever I had done, was still me, and no one, can blame anyone else for my problems. I know what I hold true, I know that they would too. I'm so sorry, for what I'd may have done. No amount of consoling, no amount of assurance, could ever show me, anything else. No apologies, no amount of love, could truly pull me, from the dark. So while I cry inside, you'll see, that I'm happy, no matter what. It's nobody else's fault, that I was harmed, they said I was a bad child, so I was punished, with no halt. I'm the one to blame, for my tears, I'm so sorry, but I'm scarred. It's hidden in my heart, there's no skin for it to show, any marks were hidden too well,"_ there was a small pause as I let the piano play on its own for a few seconds before finishing _. "No apology, no amount of love, could truly pull, me from the dark. No kindness, no light, could ever erase, what was done. My darkness was caused by only me, and there will always be, its shadow within, as it left its mark, on my heart."_

            Soul played a couple of last notes then looked up at me with sadness in his eyes mixed with anger. "I had no idea you kept all that inside, but you can't blame yourself for any of this Scarlet. It's not your fault," Soul came over to the fainting couch and kneeled in front of me as I began to realize the words I just sang.

            "Did you do that on purpose Soul? To find out what I might have not been saying?" I asked as I turned away from his gaze.

            "No, I didn't. I wanted to play to try cheering you up, as I did before. You just began singing and it was something I felt deep in my core as you sang out all that plagued you, I felt some of the emotion that was held in your words. I had a feeling that you might have had some thoughts like that and that inspired my song, but not in the way you were thinking. I had hoped you would end up just listening to the music," Soul grabbed my chin and slowly and gently pulled my face to look at him.

            Tears were filling my eyes as I saw the truth in his and realized that I couldn't take any of my words back now. Sobs began to fill my body as everything I had held in for my entire life erupted in one single moment. Soul had broken through almost every barrier I had, the only one left guarded my deepest secrets that I had bottled to try and forget. Soul just got on the couch and pulled me into his lap when I began to cry. He held me close and allowed me to cry into him for hours. Eventually the tears slowed and I looked up. We were no longer in the piano room, but rather in Soul's bedroom laying down. He held me to his chest in a more comfortable position than if we were sitting up. I clung to him as he held me, and I memorized his scent. He smelled of cinnamon, metal, and honey. A peculiar and yet somehow tantalizing scent that I don't think I would ever forget. After a while he realized that the tears had stopped and looked down at me to see if I was okay. I looked up.

            "Feeling better now?" Soul asked and I nodded meekly as I stayed clinging to his shirt. "Wanna move to the couch and watch a movie? We can order pizza tonight and not worry about cooking or cleaning."

            "Sure. That sounds fine," I couldn't bring myself to be as loud as normal so I came across as timid.

            "Haha, I don't suppose you're detaching from me anytime soon so it'll just be easier if I carry you okay," I simply nodded and he lifted me as he got up and carried me to the couch, sitting me in his lap. Soul pulled out his pocket mirror and dialed a number. "Hey, it's Soul Eater Evans, I'd like to order," he looked at me and I mouthed pepperoni. "One large pepperoni pizza please. Yes to my address. Thank you." Once Soul finished with that he turned on the TV and we sat content as I remained on his lap and he stroked my back.

            Eventually the doorbell rang and Soul paused the movie. He moved me off his lap gently and got the door. Soul handed the delivery guy the money he owed and then came back with pizza in hand. Once he sat down I curled up next to him and leaned on him for the rest of the movie. Once we had finished our pizza and our movie Soul looked to me.

            "So do you want to watch another one or go to bed?" Soul asked me and I contemplated.

            "If I go to bed would you stay with me for a while?" I had to ask. I really didn't want to be alone at the moment.

            "If that's what you want then that's what I'll do Scarlet. I won't leave your side until you fall asleep," Soul smiles at me and we get up. I change real quick and then Soul comes over to the side of my bed and sits down on the floor with his right leg being closest to me and bent. He used his right hand to grip one of mine and began humming one of his softer tunes. Within minutes I had fallen asleep.

            Memories of my time growing up flooded my dreams and the worst ones surfaced once again. Darren stood over me with a wicked glint in his eyes as he unbuckled his pants and began his form of training and punishment mixed together. The whip hitting me anywhere but my face. Being forced to wear certain revealing clothing as I cleaned the marble floors. Being given a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar so I could no longer speak before being tied up in a burning shower until it ran cold. Being beaten by my elder brother. Being homeschooled and given archaic punishment for getting things wrong or small misbehaviors. Being backhanded and then kept home and away from the public until the cut healed and was no longer visible. Losing my anal virginity. It all flashed across my mind in vivid scenes until I finally woke up screaming.

            "Scarlet!" Soul rushed into my room and saw that I was fine other than being terrified. "It was just a nightmare. You're fine, no one's going to hurt you."

            "It wasn't a nightmare. It was real. Everything I just saw really happened," I said shaking. Soul came over to my bed and held me to him as I shook in terror.

            "Scarlet, no one will ever hurt you like that again. I'll protect you now. Come on let's get you some hot chocolate and calm you down. Your soul is on the verge of going electric," Soul kissed the top of my head and helped me stand. Seconds after we entered the living room on our way to the kitchen, the front door burst open.

            "What happened? We heard screams," Ashton and one of his men, along with two big burly guard looking dudes were now in the living room and both Ashton and the lead burly guy glared at each other.

            "Scarlet just had a nightmare Ashton, don't worry about it. I've got her," Soul kept his arms around me holding me close to him. However the shaking changed from residual fear to anger.

            "How long have you been watching and listening in?" I ask and Soul realizes that I didn't sound so timid anymore.

            "Scarlet, you know we patrol around you at all times," Ashton replied with a questioning face. "It's not as constant anymore and we don't need to as much with Soul here, but we still come by to check on things every hour or so."

            "Not you Ashton. We'll talk about exactly what that means later. I meant big burly here," I nodded towards the ones I didn't know. Soul backed up and stood at my side waiting for any indication that I would need him.

            "Milady Scarlet, I'm Berkshire. I was assigned along with a small regiment of men to guard and protect you under the leadership of your cousin. Me and my men have been around listening for any potential problems or danger as we guarded the perimeter since Lord Damian left," the one that appeared to be leader said.

            "And what exactly did you hear earlier and what did you do with what you heard?" I questioned. Angry at the prospect of others knowing my dirty laundry,

            "We heard you sing milady," Berkshire reported. "Once we made out the words we determined that we should write them down and send our fastest man to report on it to your parents. And may I add that your voice is absolutely stunning, milady."

            "YOU WHAT?! How dare you report something so private to my parents. In case  you didn't realize I had been having a private moment with my partner and now I know that it was likely recorded and sent in a report to my parents whom I have just met! I don't care if that is what you were ordered to do, that is an invasion of my privacy and I will not tolerate such things. I could have you subdued and brought to a different location for punishment. Heck I might not even have to give the word for it to happen! Don't you ever, EVER, do something like that again do you understand me?! And further more I have had guards on me for several years now and if you want to be part of my guards you will be taking orders from them. Even my cousin would have to if he insists on being a guard. I want you to leave. NOW!!" I went off on a tirade and Ashton stepped in front of Berkshire.

            "You heard her, out. You invade her privacy again and the Star Clan will take care of you. You won't be upsetting the woman we swore allegiance to anymore," Ashton stood his ground and his subordinate joined him. Soul put his arms around me and whispered in my ear.

            "It's okay. What they did was wrong, but they did it because they were asked to by your parents. Don't hurt someone for doing their job, your kind heart will end up regretting it later. Please just calm down, I can feel your soul going all over the place," he held me close and tears welled up. I gripped Soul's shirt and held tight as he stroked my hair while I cried. "Please leave. It's late and I just want to calm her down and get her back to bed. You can report that she was unhappy with your being around and tell her parents that we'll meet them for lunch in town to discuss things. Tomorrow is the first day she'll be allowed out of the apartment so I'm sure she'll be willing to get out and about, but please remind her parents to be gentle as they are too eager to have their daughter back and it's hard on her. If you do not leave I'll call someone who can make you leave. Now out."

            Soul held me close as the two big men nodded and left. Soul guided me into the kitchen and sat me down in a barstool. Promising he won't leave my sight, he starts on the hot chocolate and then eventually places a steaming mug in front of me. We sat there in silence for a while and I mindlessly drank from my mug.

            "Scarlet!" Soul was about to stop me but I had already drank some. "How? That should have been too hot to drink. I boiled milk for that and it had only sat there a minute."

            "Oh, guess I didn't notice," I respond sullenly.

            "Scarlet, are you ever going to tell me what all happened back in that other world before Lord Death found you?" Soul pleaded with me.

            "I'm not sure I can. I've locked away several of the memories, and though they still haunt me in my dreams I quickly begin to forget them after waking. Maybe someday Soul," I tell him as I gazed deep into my mug.

            "I understand, I just don't want you to carry the burden of what happened to you all on your own. I promise I'll help you in any way that I can," Soul grabs my hand from across the table.

            "Thanks Soul. That means a lot, really," I respond quietly and continue drinking the hot chocolate.

            About an hour later Soul took me back to my room and stayed with me until I fell asleep again. This time I fell into a blissfully dreamless sleep. In the morning I woke up slowly and go to the common room where Soul noticed me and silently got up and hugged me before leading me to the table.

            "I made breakfast for you in hopes you'd wake up earlier than yesterday," Soul smiles at me and sets cinnamon rolls in front of me.

            "So that's what woke me up," I comment and take a bite. "It's really good, thank you Soul."

            "Glad you like it. Oh um, Ashton texted. He said he'll be joining us for lunch. Then everyone else texted and said the same thing. You okay with that?" Soul checked with me and I shrugged.

            "It might actually help keep me from going all devil spawn on them for their intrusive guards. And Ashton needs to meet them, then they'll know I'm in good hands," I reply and finish my food.

            "Okay, I'll let them know. You go ahead and watch some TV. We'll head out once it's closer to lunch and you're ready," Soul tells me and I just head to the couch and watch TV waking up more. After a few hours I decide to get ready cause it was already eleven.

            I put on a strapless red dress with a smooth three part same colored bodice. The skirt stopped just above the knee and consisted of the same fabric as the bodice but in wavy strips that were loose and acted as vertical ruffles. I paired it with a black lacy shrug, black leather high heel ankle boots, and rose jewelry. I let my hair down in a mess of waves and simply put a single red rose clip pulling back the hair on the right side of my face. My makeup was my signature red and black smoky eye, red lipstick, blush, and mascara. I walked out of my room and saw Soul waiting for me. When Soul noticed me his jaw dropped.

            "You look great Scarlet," Soul tells me with slight exasperation. "I didn't think you'd go so far for this."

            "Like I told you on the day I met my parents, they're obscenely rich. So I need to look presentable," I grab my black purse and sling it around me and then grab my plain red parasol and sunglasses and look at Soul. "So I guess we should be going. Lead the way, I still have no clue how to get around here."

            "Uh, yeah sure. Just a sec, let me grab my wallet and my keys. We'll take my motorcycle to get there faster," Soul tells me and I look at him skeptically. "I'm a safe driver I promise."

            "That's not it. I need my parasol so I don't get sun burned. Trust me it's way too easy for me to burn. I don't think I could keep it up on the motorcycle," I tell him and he laughs.

            "Relax, it's not far. But if it'll make you feel better we can walk. Though I doubt you'll get sunburned that often here. You see in this place our sun can be really lazy. You need to be out there for hours before getting burned...unless you're in the desert," Soul pats my back lightly. "We have Lord Death to thank for UV protection in the city. So you could even leave your parasol here if you wanted."

            "I won't leave it this time but I'll trust you and leave it down. But if I start feeling burned I'm putting it up," I tell him and he laughs again.

            "Okay. Come on, we don't want to keep them waiting," Soul smiles at me and leads me to his motorcycle. In about five minutes we're at a restaurant and our friends quickly show up after us. "Hey guys. You go on and get the table." Soul checks his phone. "Ashton is bringing a couple of his guys so make it a table for..." Soul pauses to add up and I just say the number.

            "Thirteen. Tell them that there's a generous tip involved and they should give us good seats. That's how most places work anyways," I deadpan.

            "That was fast. You're really good at math," Tsubaki comments.

            "Not really I already knew most of who was coming and I just added one when I heard Ashton was bringing someone. Besides you all are the ones who are top of the class," I shrug it off and they all laugh.

            "Kid can barely get past writing his name, if he does at all, before the end of tests. Patty just draws and makes paper statues. You're probably better off than either of them. And I just don't know that much of this stuff. Black Star is practically hopeless, and Soul can be pretty bad off as well. The thing we're good at is the battles and that's only after so much work," Liz smiles at me. "You'd be the smart on Scarlet."

            "Thanks. You should probably get the table so it's ready when my parents get here," I smile back and the group goes inside and gets the table. Me and Soul only have to wait a few minutes before my parents and cousin show up.

            "Sweetheart!" My parents hug me and I give them a small squeeze back and they step back with a small frown on their faces that is mostly overshadowed with their happiness to see me again. "We have a lot to talk about."

            "Yes we do," I say sternly and they take a step back. Soul places a hand on my shoulder and I take a deep breath. "My friends are inside with a table. Everything that involves me will involve them, we're a predetermined team."

            "Hey, Scarlet," Damian gives a small wave from the door of the car.

            "Damian I may be slightly upset but you're still family. Get over here and hug me you big oaf," I cross my arms and cock my hip. Damian and Soul both give a small laugh as he comes over to give me a quick hug. While we hug I whisper in my ear. "If you truly care you'll take my side and pull back your goons."

            "Sorry," he whispered back. We separated and he stands by my parents.

            "I still have a couple others coming so feel free to go inside and wait with my friends. I believe you should already know Kid decently well, and you briefly met the others the other night," I gesture for them to go inside and they nod doing as asked. Ashton arrives minutes later.

            "Hey Scarlet. Ready to get this done?" Ashton asks me giving me a side hug and I give a single breathy laugh.

            "Ready to basically tell my new, and kinder, parents that they need to back off. I don't think that 'ready' is the right word for it. But yeah, let's get in there," I tell him.

            We all walk inside and I see my friends. They left the head of the table open and the seat to the left of it. On the other side from my friends my parents sat so I told Ashton to sit next to my cousin and he nodded. We all waited and ordered. Went through some small talk. And ultimately pushed back the heavy talking for after our food came. Finally it did.

            "So mother, father, I wanted to talk to you today about something important to me. Next to Damian is Ashton, leader of the Star clan and my friend. He is no loose cannon and is very loyal to me. Meanwhile there's the guards you placed on me. They mistreated their position and reported something to you that they had no right to do so. With Ashton I know I would never have avoided him finding out the things that occurred last night but I have befriended him and the majority of the star clan. I sadly just met you and yet you have people reporting on anything they deem they should. It's an invasion of privacy and must stop," I tell them point blank and the entire table stops eating.

            "Well, Scarlet, we're just worried about you. And rightfully so as it would seem. Those words reported to us were horrible. Maybe we should pull you out of school for the year and allow you to adjust to this world more before you attend the academy," my mom says.

            "Your mother is right Scarlet, those words were worthy of the tears that she cried last night and it only worries us more," my dad adds to what she said.

            "All due respect but I refuse to be taken out of school. I'm not the only one who'd be delayed. Soul is only ever able to partner with me from now on and it goes the same the other way around. And they weren't simply words they were lyrics. Please understand that because these six people were determined to be a team, that means if I'm pulled from school, then they all are forced to stop as well. And they've been through enough, they shouldn't have to be delayed in their goals any longer than they already have," I look to Ashton. "The Star Clan is prepared and has been protecting me on their own for years. I refuse to act as if they are not enough anymore. Now I am prepared to have your guards if it will ease your minds, however I must insist that they report to the Star Clan before they can bring anything to you. If they do not report to the Star Clan first, and/or report to you things the Star Clan won't/don't approve of, I will fire them and no longer allow them to be around. If the Star Clan finds them around me, still acting as guards after I fire them, I can't guarantee their safety or lives. They crossed a line, and I refuse to allow that any longer."

            "Young lady, we are still your parents. We may not have raised you but we are your parents. You will show us respect and you will tell your little clan to stand down," my dad tells me sternly.

            "Or what? You'll take my credit card away? News flash, I get an allowance from the school to live off of. I can go out and work if you, somehow, convince Lord Death to cut that off too. You can't punish me by grounding me, I don't live with you. And I know you can't simply pull me out of this school against my will. Your punishments would never be able to scare me anyways, I've been through so much more than you are willing to do to me. Or did you plan to stoop to the level of the very people you would have loved to take me away from had you known what all they'd done to me? Would you go so low as to pull a whip against me?" My parents sit there, shocked at how deathly calm my voice is. Soul places his hand over mine to let me know I'm being harsh again and I sigh. "I apologize. I can be a bit hard to deal with when I'm upset."

            "You shouldn't apologize Scarlet," Damian comments and wipes his mouth as he had finished eating. "Aunt Beth, Uncle Harvey, I believe we should go with her plan. I'll still be able to help guard her when at school and would simply have to go to this Ashton boy before I report to you. I think she's being awfully reasonable given the horrible display we gave her last night of what we will do. We abused her trust, and the guards reported something incredibly private to you. I think that her offer is incredibly mature, polite, high class, and reasonable. She is attempting a compromise and as such we should respect her wishes."

            "Thank you Damian dear, but if we wanted your opinion on how to raise our daughter we'd ask," My mom says politely and I interrupt her before she can go on.

            "Except you aren't raising me. I'm past that point mother. At this point in my life all you can really do is sit back and watch as I grow further myself. But if you don't take the compromise I'll leave the rest to Ashton and the Star Clan," I say calmly before sipping from my soda.

            "If you do not take her offer of compromise, then the only guards life I'll guarantee, if found around her, would be her cousin here. He has the safety of being her family and not harming her. She's no longer upset with him, which means he apologized, and he is supporting her in this time. If you want your men to live I suggest one of two paths: accept the compromise or withdraw them completely. There is no other options that involve them being safe," Ashton announces and I take a bite of my food.

            "Sadly, he tends to lean towards kill when people wrong me. And he saw how upset I was when it happened. Please, take your time to consider, however do not allow your men anywhere near me until either I know for sure that you took my offer or they carry a note with all three of your signatures, stating that you accept the offer and it has been confirmed. These are my terms for peaceful coexistence, please, take them," I say ending all discussion on the matter and we finish lunch. Afterwards I sent my parents off with a quick hug and Damian off with a thank you.

            "So did you want to shop at all?" Soul asked me and I smile at him.

            "I wouldn't mind walking around a bit and looking in shop windows," I reply and they all laugh s bit.

            "You got it," Soul smiles at me and gives me a quick side hug.

            "I didn't want to mention it until I was sure but, it seems that your resonance bond has grown over the last few days. If this keeps up, you'll be able to fight really well with each other. I'm glad to see how well the two of you are getting along," Kid smiles at me.

            "Wait what do you mean by that? And how would you know that an invisible bond got stronger?" I ask.

            "We'll explain later. For now, let's walk around town for a bit okay," Soul smiles down at me and nods at Kid who smiles in return.


	8. Chapter 8: Back to School. The Punishment is Decided!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry I'm so late on this one, but I just couldn't figure out how to continue it. If anyone ever gets any ideas or even just wants to give me a critique feel free to comment on my work. Please nothing overly mean if you want to comment, but comments are still appreciated. Thank you so much for being so patient, I'll have the next chapter to you within the next month. Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Back to School. The Punishment is Decided!

 

            Once my time off was over I returned to class with renewed confidence after Soul and I had bonded so much. The guy that Lord Death had left the punishment to me of went wide eyed when he saw me while all his little buddies started chuckling at me who was walking around in my high heeled black leather boots and a short Renaissance style dress. I had my hair done and had Soul and his friends behind me. I went straight up to Edward with an air of confidence.

            "As I believe you are aware, Lord Death left your punishment to me once I returned from my reprieve," I look straight at him and he simply gulps and nods. "You're lucky he gave conditions and I'm not a cold hearted bitch. To start once a week for the next month you and your weapon partner will enter the world I grew up in with an escort and must keep your soul wavelengths bottled up enough not to cause damage. You will stay there with your escort for three hours."

            "Wait why is he getting punished?" One of Edwards friends asks with a haughty expression. "It's not his fault you can't take some jokes. And why should he listen to you anyways?"

            "He's getting punished because it was intentional verbal and mental bullying, the bullying resulted in a life threatening affair, thus the punishment being able to be as harsh as it is. He will listen to me because I was told by Lord Death himself to choose the punishment and I am Scarlet Amaris Rosen, of the noble Rosen family which has close ties with Lord Death himself," I explain with a straight and bored expression.

            "And why do I get involved in this punishment?" Edward's weapon partner, I believe his name was Henry, asked.

            "Because as his weapon partner you should have stopped him. However the second part of his punishment you have an option in joining. Edward going to the other world is only the first part of your three part punishment. The second part is detention classes held by me for a month to explain Weapon and Meister compatibility and correct behaviors. And the last part is my personal favorite. You will be employed by my family for three months without pay. After your three months we'll offer you a paid position that you may or may not take. Now I'll be heading to my seat for class," I finish dolling the punishment and Edward's friends all laugh.

            "Are you sure about that punishment Scarlet? I mean, none of it really stops him from saying rude things to you and he'll be around you all the time. Not to mention it's a bit layered and well, it could be considered harsh," Soul tries to have me go easy on him.

            "Sending him to the world I grew up in for a while will give him respect for what I've gone through. Our lessons will give him respect for our bond as well as his own bond. And finally serving my family will give him respect for me as a person. It all has rhyme and reason, you just have to work to see it and complete it," I reply on a shrug and he chuckles a bit.

            "I bet his friends are telling him to not go through with it," Soul smirks.

            "Boy won't he be surprised when the Star Clan shows up on Saturday to collect his ass for his three hours. And yes I know that it's a relief to you knowing I wasn't intending to go. The Star Clan was simply the better choice is all," I tell him with a smile.

            "I am relieved, you have no idea Scar. I was afraid that you would do something stupid like being part of their escort. But I am very happy with how that turned out, you were so cool," Soul smiles at me and places a hand on my shoulder.

            "Okay class, time to take your seats. For some reason we have a couple of transfer students. Come on in kids," Sid calls out and in walks my cousin and who I can only guess is his weapon partner.

            "Hello, I'm Damian Rosen and this is my weapon partner Jacob Winters, he doesn't talk much, but we hope to get along," Damian bows and so does Jacob.

            "Alright everybody any questions?" Sid shouts at us, for some reason he seems unhappy today.

            "Are you related to the esteemed Rosen family?" some girl in the back of the class who I knew was a gold digging idiot called out.

            "Yes, I am the nephew of Beth and Harvey Rosen," Damian replies politely.

            "Basically he's my cousin and not interested," I call out to the girl several rows behind me with a bored tone and the rest of the class bursts out laughing.

            "Scarlet, I expect better from the girl who can force Soul and Black Star to behave. No more outbursts please," Sid admonishes but is holding back a laugh of his own.

            "Sorry Sid Sensei. I simply felt it better she understand the rejection clearly right away rather than embarrass herself later on," I bow in my seat as I apologize to Sid.

            "Yes, well, Lord Death said to give you all a free day to get to know your new classmates. However you are all to remain in here or go to the gym. No leaving without permission," Sid says before rushing out of class and the second he's gone you can hear him break down in laughter.

            "Thank you for making it clear Scarlet but I'd have preferred to do it more gently and in private," Damian smiles and walks up to where I was sitting.

            "Eh, she sounded like a rude person anyways. Thought I'd save you the trouble," I get down from my desk by going over the top again and Soul smirks as he joins me.

            "Lady Scarlet, it is my esteemed pleasure to be able to assist in your protection detail. I will forever be your loyal servant," Jacob gets down in a kneeling position and kisses the back of my hand startling me speechless as I blush from embarrassment.

            "Aw, ain't that just adorable. The new guy has a crush on the weakest girl in class. Oh wait it's not a crush, it's just Scarlet acting superior again by bringing guards to class with her now. After all it's not as if she can protect herself," Edward's right hand friend laughs and causes the rest of the class to join in.

            "Try saying that again punk and we'll just see who has the last laugh," Damian says suddenly holding the jerk by his shirt collar. "That's my precious cousin you're talking about. The heir to the Rosen fortune and power. I'd hold my tongue if I were you." Damian sounded deadly.

            "Damian let him go. As you said, I'm the heir, therefore you would need to follow what I say. Don't you lay a finger on that boy beyond what you already have or I'm going to have to make you sorry. I can deal with bullies like him. I've gained a thicker skin since the last debacle," I say with my fists clenched as I look down and hold back my tears once again. I walk up to the bully and grab Damian's hand having him release the boy before I turn a mask of rage on my verbal attacker. "Unless you wish to receive a similar fate to that of Edward and his partner I would suggest you refrain from saying anything of the sort again. Much to my chagrin, my parents have assigned me a security detail. I managed to convince my parents to have them report to my original friends who acted as security. Try anything like that again and I can't promise you your safety from any of them."

            "Yeah, got it," the punk said as he shook. I nodded and began leaving.

            "You can't leave without permission!" the same girl from earlier shouted at me.     

            "Oh, so I need to wait for a teacher to be able to use the bathroom now? I believe I can do that much without permission. Besides, I already had the chance to get to know my cousin," I walk out of the classroom.

            "Shit! You're all a bunch of idiots you know that!?" Soul shouts as he follows after me. "Scarlet hold on! You said you would turn to me more, what's going on?"

            I stop abruptly and look around real quick before turning around and throwing myself into Soul's chest. "Get me out of here, please Soul," I cried and he simply nodded as he began walking.

            "I'm just going to call Kid on our way out so we don't get stopped okay," I nodded this time and Soul made the call.

            "Hello," I heard Kid say.

            "Hey, Kid, it's Soul," he responded.

            "I figured, you're the only one besides my dad who would call me in general that isn't right here by my side already. What's up?" Kid says blandly.

            "I'm taking Scarlet home. I think she's had enough excitement for her first day and needs some rest. Could you call your dad and make sure that we don't get sent back to class? Also I wanted the guys to know what was going on before her cousin freaked out," Soul answers him.

            "Sure thing Soul. I'll take care of it. You just take care of Scarlet, she's your true pairing partner, we have no idea what could happen if you find her doing something stupid again," Kid jokes.

            "She can hear you, you know that right?" Soul rolls his eye.

            "Shit, you're right. Sorry Scarlet. Anyways, I better make that call before you're stopped. Good luck, and get some rest," Kid hangs up and Soul puts his phone in his pocket.

            Soul looks down at me, tucked into his side, and decides to simply pick me up and carry me home. Once we get home, he sits down on the couch with me in his arms and turns on a movie as he comforts me to the best of his abilities. A few hours later, once school has let out, there is a knock at the door.

            "It's unlocked," Soul calls out and in walks his friends, my cousin, and Jacob. My cousin comes straight over to me with a worried expression.

            "Are you alright Scarlet? You left so suddenly," Damian asked in his worried tone and I simply smile at him.

            "Yeah I'm fine. It was simply having it be my first day back, I got tired after so much inactivity. I'll be back in class tomorrow," I keep smiling the entire time.

            "Thank goodness. I can't imagine what would happen if your parents found out anything else," Damian sighs in relief and I give a laugh.

            "Unless you guys plan to cook and be quiet, I think it's best that you don't stay too long. She is really tired today and I think she just needs some quiet time after this morning's events," Soul says as he looks to his friends and they go wide eyed for a second.

            "Okay, if that's what you think is best," Kid replies slowly while everyone but Black Star nods.

            "WHAT! Soul what ever happened to our friendship! Why would you kick me out!? Why Soul, Why?!" Black Star shouts and I unintentionally flinch as a reaction. Being tired as I am, all yelling is beginning to sound like my former parents.

            "Black Star, quiet down," Soul hissed. "Don't forget your surroundings for once in your life please. I'd prefer it if you didn't stay tonight because you'd just exhaust Scarlet even more. You're far too energetic and she needs calm right now. I'll call you later and we can hang out, but for now, please just leave."

            "Black Star, I think it's best if we go. We can hang out with Soul and Scarlet some other time, but Soul's right, she really does look exhausted already. Sometimes it's best to just spend time alone or with the closest person to you at the time. So come on, we can go watch your favorite program," Tsubaki attempts to help out.

            "Yeah, alright. I'll see you later Soul," Black Star says and walks out sullenly while the others wave and follow him.

            "That means you too man," Soul turns to Damian. "Just because you're her cousin, doesn't mean that you get to stay whenever you want. She needs the peace and you'll just stir up thoughts she'd rather not have right now."

            Damian nods and walks out. I bury my face further into Soul, finding comfort in his close proximity. "Thank you," I tell him. Soul simply rubs my back before replying.

            "Anytime Scarlet. I could tell you didn't want to be around others the moment that fake smile was on your face. I'm getting better at figuring out your true smiles, and your masks," Soul smiles at me and orders pizza again. We watch another movie and eat our pizza, all the while staying near each other for the support we both need. Soul was still getting over Maka after all, and I'm still getting over my past as well. After a while we both decide it's time to go to bed so that we can get through the next day's classes.

            I get up in the morning and stumble my way to the couch which has a show paused and ready for me that I have been watching lately. After enough time I got up and grabbed the plate of food from Soul who had just finished cooking and we eat in silence. Once I was done I went to my room and picked out my outfit for the day. I picked a red tank top and paired it with black ripped jeans and a black leather vest with a side zipper and belt across the bottom. I put on black studded high heel black sued ankle boots with heels that are a good three inches, several black and silver bracelets, one diamond studded bracelet, and rose earrings. I put my hair up in a complicated ponytail style that had many braids and twists. Then I did flawless black smoky makeup with scarlet red lips and walked out of my room ready to tackle anything.

            "You look like you're ready to kick some ass," Soul smirks and I return his with one of my own.

            "I feel ready to kick some ass. Let's show those assholes that they can't just keep messing with me for their enjoyment," I reply.

            "I'm liking this. Welcome back to the world of the living," Soul jokes and I laugh a bit as we leave the apartment.

            "Scarlet? What the hell are you wearing? That is not something I would expect a respectable young woman such as yourself to wear," a voice behind me says as I back out of the doorway into the street. I turn around and find Damian frozen by the street.

            "I can wear what I want, and I wanted something that would provide me with plenty of confidence. I decided to make sure those people shut up for good today and to do that I need the extra confidence boost. What are you even doing here? I was meeting you at school," I reply.

            "I wanted to make sure you were alright after yesterday and thought I'd keep you safe on the way to class," Damian responds.

            "Hey, I can protect my Meister just fine thanks. I'd prefer it if you'd leave walking her to class to me from now on," Soul moves a bit in front of me and I put my hand on his arm to calm him.

            "Soul's right Damian. Even if the Star Clan follows me to school, which I don't even know if they do, they always stay in the shadows. If you ever plan to do this again, I'd suggest you stick to leaving your presence hidden," I look my cousin straight in the eyes and tell him this.

            "Sorry. I suppose you're right," Damian bows his head. "However forgive me if I don't trust the weapon that couldn't protect his previous Meister when it counted most, not completely anyway. I can't help but not trust him with my precious cousin. You are the next head of my family, I was raised to be ready to take care of you and that is what I intend to do."

            I release Soul and take a step back. "I warned you not to bring her up again Damian. I won't prevent him from attacking you this time," I tell him with a stone cold face. Soul clenches his fists and give Damian one clear punch in the face by catching him off guard. After punching Damian, Soul turns to me, grabs my hand, and begins walking towards school. "Soul?"

            "Come on. I'm not gonna waste another minute on him. I know he's your cousin, but I can't stand him," I pull Soul to a stop and when he turns to look at me I hug him.

            "I know you can't. And as far as I'm concerned you are the one with the most right to protect me. He may have been raised to take care of me, but you were born to partner with me and protect me. Thank you for stepping in there, I don't know if I would have been able to handle such a thing so soon," I whisper to Soul and he gives me a hug back before he pulls back and starts pulling me at a jog towards the school once again.

            "Come on, we don't want to be late for those jerks ass kicking's," Soul smiled at me and we got to class in a record time for me without me getting to winded.

            "Oh look it's the little princess. Edward was right, you should give Soul to a real Meister and let him reach his full potential," Edwards friend taunts.

            "What's your name?" I ask so sweetly it throws the guy off.

            "It's Brian. Wait, you don't need to know that. Shut up," Brian responded to my cool demeanor.

            "Well Brian, how about this, I'll give you Soul, if you can lift him without repercussions," I look down my nose at him. "Or would you rather fight me by myself?"

            "That's all it'll take to get the best weapon partner ever? I'm game," Brian smirks and walks down the stairs to me.

            "Soul transform," I tell him and Soul looks at me shocked.

            "But we're not allowed to duel without a teacher present and I'd rather not be given to this punk," Soul practically stammers.

            "Trust me and transform," Soul nods in response and transforms. I catch him mid air and spin him around a bit. Then I hold Soul out in weapon form. "Put your hand out and I'll place him in your hand." The boy does as told and I place Soul in his hand. Immediately after I let go Brian dropped to the ground with Soul and I crouched down and gingerly picked Soul up from the ground. "Sorry Soul. You can transform back now if you want." Soul transforms back and rubs his left side.

            "It's alright. You had a point to make. And it's a pretty good way to shut them up," Soul smiles at me.

            "Do you idiots get it yet? Yes you can partner with other weapons yourselves, and your weapons can partner with other Meisters, however only when compatible. Me and Soul are no longer compatible with anyone but each other. Edward, you get more on this after school today. For now, that's all I should have to say. You punks need to lay off about me being weak. It only takes one moment to lose control and zap your asses into next week as it is, one would think you'd all be smarter than this," I quickly turn and walk to me seat and begin to read. This was how I spent most of my day. Reading and paying attention in class. I even made improvements in gym. Now to deal with the after school portion of the punishment.


	9. Chapter 9: What Comes Next

Chapter 9

What Comes Next

 

            Classes came and went in a blur with the teachers not expecting much from the damaged girl other than keeping Soul in line, and in turn Black Star. When gym came Soul arranged for us to go to our own private gym with our team to work with me on their own to reduce the risk of the other students creating any further damage for the time being. Within the hour that we used the gym equipment, I strangely felt much stronger.

            "You're improving a lot. Granted we're taking easy on you per many orders, both yours and the doctors, but still, I'm seeing improvements none the less," Soul smiles at me as everyone else nods.

            "Thanks but I'm sure it's not that major. Especially since I'm not allowed to run longer than five minutes, if that, and can only lift five pound weights right now," I blush and turn my head away.

            "Oh come on. You're recovering from surgery, trust me, I know how much it sucks knowing how little you're allowed to do. Within this hour you haven't complained once," Soul winks at me. "I'd call that improvement. And next week we'll work your way up to twenty-five pounds and twenty minutes max of running. Though, the moment you complain we're stopping."

            "Oh shut up Soul," I smile and give a light punch and he fakes it hurting. "Oh come on stop with that."

            "Aw, I can't even try to let you feel better for not hurting me?" Soul laughs and winks at me again and I stick my tongue out at him.

            "Real mature Cousin. Maybe I can interest you in some maturity and a return to class," Damian says smirking in the doorway. I turn and glare at my cousin.

            "What do you want Damian? We have ten minutes left to change and get back to class," I reply pouting cause, for once, I was having fun in any type of gym.

            "Yeah, I know, the teacher sent me to make sure you're not over exerted and that you guys remembered that you only had ten more minutes before you need to get to class. They certainly dote on you here. As they should," Damian smiles at me lovingly.

            "Ooookay. Well, thanks for reminding us of the time or whatever. We'll start getting ready. But if you'll excuse us, Cousin, this is our team's private gym," I say to him. "And when you go back, tell the teacher we have an timer that goes off at five till in case we lose track of time, like she suggested."

            "Right. But if you don't mind my asking, what do you mean by team?" Damian asks. I turn to Soul and he taps out by tapping Kids shoulder. Kid sighs and jumps in.

            "Later on in your time here at this school, you'll be assigned a team to work together with on various missions. If it's a major mission, the school will insist you go with your team. Each team consists of three weapon and Meister pairs, or in some cases trios," Kid states factually.

            "Uh-huh. And how come you already have a team?" Damian asks. "And a team gym. It seems a bit like special treatment."

            "It is. We were already a team before the tragedy with my last partner, Maka. Scarlet was originally just going to be someone we all trained as mentors. But because of Maka's death, Lord Death had me and her test our compatability. We turned out to be more compatible than he ever imagined, so she joined our team and we moved back to her year level," Soul reply's. His voice getting darker. "Now any more questions that you could ask teachers, or are you going to finally leave and get back to class?"

            "Whatever. Thanks for answering my question," Damian scoffs at Soul. "See you later Scarlet." Damian smiles at me as if I were a child he thought were so innocent before he finally leaves.

            "I swear sometimes I want to murder my own cousin," I scowl once Damian was out of earshot.

            "Trust me I know the feeling. But he's the only family besides your parents that you have. And he's the one that took your side with the security thing," Soul puts his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, let's hit the showers and start heading back to class. In a couple weeks we'll take an assignment and have Ashton put him on something local so he can't follow us."

            "Yeah alright," I sigh and turn off the timer as I head towards the showers. I take a quick shower and think about all that's happened. Suddenly something seems off about the shower, so I open my eyes and see red coming out of the shower head. A thick scarlet red liquid sprayed right onto me. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I jumped out of the shower as fast as I could trembling.

            "Scarlet, what is it?! What's wrong?!" Soul yells as he bursts into the room. He sees the condition I'm in and quickly wraps me in a towel as he looks to the shower that I hadn't bothered to turn off. "What the hell is going on here?" He asks under his breath. "Come on. I'll get you out of here. You can take a shower at home."

            "I don't think I could take another shower again," I tell him and Soul nods. I tremble as he gently guides me out of the shower room. Once we get out Soul looks straight at Kid.

            "Call you dad and get and investigation started right away. Someone put blood in the pipeline that lead to our shower rooms. Either they were aiming to freak out Scarlet, one of us, or it was a prank gone wrong. No matter what I want this taken care of. We have our own water tank, start with finding out who all knew that. I'm taking Scarlet home to get cleaned up. I'll call if we aren't coming back, let the teacher know that we'll at least be late," Soul takes charge again and I lean into him. When did he become my rock? When did he become the thing to keep me stable? I don't care to try and figure that out, right now, I just need the stability.

            Soul gets me in my gym clothes before we leave. As we leave we were bombarded by our entire class and more. Teachers were holding students back as Stein pulled his lab coat off and helped to cover me. I hear a voice in the crowd, barely.

            "Let me through, I'm her cousin!" Damian shouted above everyone else. Stein and Soul looked to me to see if I wanted him with me. Ever so slightly I shook my head. Stein gave some kind of signal and Sid picked up my cousin.

            "Sorry kid, you'll need to wait to know what happened with the rest of the students. We'll call you once we know something, you can be the first to know once we know. But for now, even her cousin is going to be held back," Sid tells Damian.

            "Then why is Soul Eater getting to go with her? He's not even related to her. If anyone should be held back it's him!" Damian yells and I cower further into Soul.

            "Stein, hold her for me for a minute. Don't worry I'll go easy on him," Stein hesitates before nodding his head at Sid who put down my cousin just as Soul got near him. Soul grabbed Damian by the collar. "I'm allowed to be with her for a number of reasons punk. The first of which is that I'm her weapon partner. The second is that I already know what happened in there unlike you. And don't think for one second that you are above suspicion just because you're her cousin. I'm with her because, in case you didn't notice, she's scared to death right now and needs me, the one thing that is a true constant in her life, right now. Whether you like me or not, doesn't matter. Right now, all that matters is Scarlet. Scarlet and her well being, both mental and physical, are what's important right now. And you shouting about how you deserve to be with her right now, and yelling that I should be pulled away, is only making her worse," Soul practically growls at Damian and lets him go, pushing my cousin back. "Now I am going to take Scarlet and get her cleaned up and calmed down. Once she decides what she wants to do, and who she's willing to be around, I'll let you know out of respect for you being her family. But don't think for one second, that you are getting anywhere near her until she says she's okay with it. Because, with how you were acting just before all this happened, you are a suspect, not the prime suspect, but a suspect none the less."

            Soul walks back over and gently pulls me into his arms again. I clutch him and he whispers an apology to me for leaving me for even a minute. I shake my head disregarding it.

            "You can hold onto my lab coat for now. Let me know when you can return it, but I have plenty of backups for now," Stein tells Soul and then walks to the perimeter to keep students back. "Anyone who steps one foot past the teachers gets to be the next specimen of my experiments." Everyone stopped struggling to get forward.

            Soul guides me, with the lab coat covering my head and going down my back, out of the school. "Ashton, make sure only Star Clan follows us. I don't need her parents guards making things worse. Same goes for the students," Soul commands Ashton knowing that Ashton will listen when Soul is like this. Soul then picks me up and carries me to the apartment. He takes me straight to the bathroom and begins helping me out of my clothes so I can get cleaned up. "Scarlet I need you to get in the tub I'm going to grab something to help get you cleaned up. I'll only be gone for a minute, don't start the water just yet." Soul goes and grabs a pitcher for water and heats up the water after getting me on the opposite side of the tub from the faucet to avoid the cold water. Within seconds Soul is helping to rise the drying blood off of me before filling the bath with water and bubble bath. Soul grabs me a book telling me it's for when I feel ready, and that he won't leave the room again unless I needed him to. I took a long bath and eventually read while in the bath, until the water started becoming cold. I got out and Soul grabbed me a towel. We went to my room and he stayed near as I got changed into a thigh length shirt that was black with bra strap style straps along with ruffle straps that are off the shoulder as well. The shirt had ruffles around the edges of the darker silk fabric that went over my breasts before leading to the loose chiffon of the rest of the top that was a bunch of draping fabric. I paired this with silver leggings. I set aside the makeup I'd use later along with the accessories. I was going to put on a pair of black leather stiletto booties with a couple of spikes and chains, a silver chain with large links that was a necklace, red lipstick, black eye shadow, blush, and black lace fingerless gloves with a silver background. Once I was done changing Soul chuckled and walked over to me and started drying my hair properly.

            "You need to actually dry your hair. You'll catch a cold at this rate," Soul grabs the hair dryer and finishes drying and brushing my hair after having me sit at the vanity. Once he was done, Soul rubbed my shoulders. "What do you want to do?" There was only concern in his eyes.

            "Staying home sounds nice, but I'm not sure if that's the best idea with how much school I've missed," I reply honestly. Soul chuckles.

            "They'll understand. Kids can miss entire months of school. As long as we have legitimate reasons for missing school, they don't care. Considering how many people say the aftermath, not to mention heard you scream, they know you probably need time off," Soul smiles at me and I lean into his hands.

            "Okay then. Let's go back after school, for the start of the punishment. I need to start the after school lessons," I smile at Soul and he shakes his head.

            "Stop giving me those fake smiles Scarlet. In public is one thing, but when we're alone, you better not try to hide what's going on in your head," Soul shakes his head before pulling me to my feet. "Now let's watch some TV and then we'll head to school in a couple hours. At about a half hour before school lets out we'll start heading back. So go ahead and get ready whenever you want before that." Soul puts his arm around me and we sit on the couch in silence again. Tears slide out of my eyes after a little while and Soul simply holds me, no questions asked. Eventually I put on my makeup and accessories and we walked to the school. I called out to Ashton and he appeared before me in a kneeling crouch while greeting me then stands and walks with me. I told him I need one or two more of his men to help me get Edward to his lesson if he refuses. I get to the classroom just as the bell rings and look directly at Edward, Ashton and his men hidden behind the corner.

            "Edward, it's time for part one of your punishment," I announce and the whole class goes silent and looks to him to see how he'll respond. Edward glances around with a nervous look in his eyes, as if he is unsure of what he should do. I knew what he decided the same moment he did based on the glint in his eyes.

            "I don't have to listen to you. You're a nobody, a weakling. What could I ever learn from you?" Edward begins backing towards the window.

            "WINDOW!" I shout signaling where he was attempting his escape. A Star Clan member practically appeared there in front of him. "Edward, you know you have to do this. You accepted your punishment yesterday. I also have the ability to lengthen your sentence should you misbehave. Besides I have brought reassurance to bring you to our assigned classroom." I nod and the other two Star Clan members enter the room and stand on either side of him and he slumps. I look to his weapons partner and smile a sad smile at him. "Henry, it's your choice if you want to join us or not. Just know, the lesson to start is how he should be treating his weapon."

            "I don't see why not, it's not like this is punishment. If anything this seems more like it could become something like a therapy session and help us with our resonance," Henry shrugs and blushes. "Besides, I'd like to hear what you have to say. I can leave at any point?" He asks and I nod. We all file out, Edward with arms guards at his sides and back to ensure his not escaping. We enter the room, Soul at my side. I gesture at the couch opposite my seat, Soul sits on my armrest and the weapon Meister pair sits on opposite sides of the couch.

            "Well, I'd say your first problem is a lack of friendliness, but that's something to tackle later. Edward, you need to learn one thing and one thing alone, your weapon is not just a tool for you to use as you see fit. You hold Henry in your hands every time that he transforms, to him physical contact is natural, and while that's not necessarily something you understand just yet, you need to realize he's not just a weapon, he's a person. Henry is you partner. And while he would put his life on the line to protect you, expecting that you not return that favor, he also has feelings and fears. You don't seem to get that and instead seem to only think of him as a weapon, you only think of him as one part of him and completely ignore the dominant half of him. In the world I grew up in, your weapons were simple pieces of cold metal and couldn't give input on plans, couldn't warn it's user of attacks. You're lucky enough to have found someone who has a personality that suits yours to the point that your soul wavelengths have a chance at resonating and thus doubling your combined power. Please, explain why you wouldn't take full advantage of that," I start my lesson with the small lecture and a question.

            "Because he is just the weapon. I have to take responsibility whenever something goes wrong, I have to do all the fighting. All he needs to do is be the weapon that I use. He is meant to give me warnings, be my shield, and be the blade that cuts down my enemy," Edward grumbles and I sigh.

            "You might as well just get a computer that tells you what's going on around you while you see what is in front of you, and use a regular hunk of steel that can't speak. At least then only your life would be on the line," I give him a hard look. "Do you really believe he won't transform back into his human form in a fight to help you where he can if it becomes necessary?"

            "Why would he? He's stronger in weapon form and at less of a risk," Edward responds.

            "He is only as safe in weapon form as his soul is strong. Soul has the scars to prove that. And the tragedy to show that even with a weapon and Meister being fully in tandem, the Meister might get hurt anyways," I grab Soul's hand. Only the four of us remaining in this room. "And I have the proof all over my body that a weapon that simply is used as a weapon can be effective, but can't necessarily protect you all the time."

            "What do you mean?" Edward asked his eyes going wide. "I don't see anything like that."

            "You wouldn't see it, she was careful. In my old world I was often whipped after being shackled to the wall of my parents basement. If they were going to be deep enough to require stitches and end up scaring she tried to keep it somewhere more naturally and easily hidden," I stand up and turn around raising my shirt to just above mid back. "The scars on my body are from and inanimate object. If my mother had a weapons partner like you did, I probably would have never scared and would have rather barely bled. A demon weapon, like Henry or Soul, would never allow such torture to occur to someone they likely cared for when being the one who would end up raising their victim. If my mother had a weapons partner, the only soul wavelength that I feel would be compatible would be a kind soul. For only a kind soul could put up with a demon such as my mother as their Meister." I sit back down and keep my eyes downcast. Soul puts his arm around me and draws me into him.

            "I never realized that something so, so, idiotic could come from your mouth," Edward smirked.

            "SHUT UP EDWARD!!!! She's right, I am more than just a weapon. Honestly, I agree with her. Only a kind hearted weapon could partner with someone as harsh as the woman who raised her. To be honest you can be rather harsh as well. If you tried to use me to harm someone innocent in any way, I'd pull back and you wouldn't be able to get one hit in on anyone but yourself," Henry spoke up and I smiled softly at him.

            "Your weapon seems a bit more human than you make him sound. In fact he sounds more human than you. I'm sorry Henry, but I don't think we'll get through to him before he visits my old world and sees more of what I mean. I'm sorry to have to put you through this but, please do help him to keep his soul wavelength in check while in the other world. Some people there are actually good people, and nobody would understand why an earthquake would occur in the area you are going," I bow my head to Henry and Edward scoffs. "Edward, I think you should spend some time by yourself right now. To reflect on what you've heard. Until time is up, you'll remain here. That's another thirty minutes, Henry, would you like to leave or wait for him. If you wait for him you can stay in here with him for the first fifteen minutes of this next half hour." I get up and leave. Henry stays put and I give him a small nod.

            "You were really brave in there. I'm proud of you for showing someone else your scars. Though I wish it weren't someone who could use it against you," Soul smiles at me and gives me a small squeeze in a side hug once the door closes.

            "I can't expect him to begin understanding anything without giving some of myself to relate to. If he doesn't know some of what happened to me, he will never respond, and going to the other world would be useless," I respond nonchalantly.

            "I'm still impressed none the less. So, are you really going to lock him in there for the next half hour?" Soul smirks and I chuckle nodding my head. "Wicked."

            "He won't learn at the rate we were going. Some alone time, with no distractions, is good for him. Even if it's only really for fifteen minutes after his partner leaves the room," I give a soft smile and we wait the rest of the time to ensure Edward doesn't leave early. Henry leaves after fifteen minutes and waits silently for the rest of the time. Once Edward comes out Henry quickly falls into step behind him. Finally, after a few seconds of walking, Henry turns to me with a slightly watery smile and says two words to me.

            "Thank you."


	10. Chapter 10: A Month Past

Chapter 10

A Month Past

 

            A month went by and Edward had finally made the progress he needed. After school, Edward and Henry approached me while having their arms around each other in a manly friend kind of way. I smile at them and give them my full attention.

            "Thank you so much for the punishment you gave me. I mean, I never thought I'd be saying this, but you really made this a good experience for me. I almost wish that the other's could have had this experience. Henry tells me he's been trying to help council my friends weapons partners to stand up for themselves and deepen the bond. My friends may not understand yet, but this was probably the best thing that you could have done for me," Edward beams at me and him and Henry drop their arms.

            "I'm glad you feel that way, Edward, so you're welcome. Sadly the next two months of your work will still be unpaid, but that paid position will still be offered to you once these next two months are up," I can't help but keep the smile on my face.

            "Oh yeah, I know. I actually also wanted to apologize for being such a dick a month ago. Though, just because I've turned over a new leaf, don't go thinking I won't try my hardest to kick your ass as one Meister to another," Edward winks. "I'm pretty sure the experience in the other world has strengthened Henry and I beyond measure."

            "I wouldn't have it any other way Edward. Though, living here has done the exact same thing for me. So don't get too cocky, I can give you a pretty decent fight these days," I was telling the truth too. I had taken up an initiative, me and Soul were practicing and training so often now, that I had become a whole new warrior.

            "That you can, just ask Kid who's ass you kicked yesterday. Or Black Star from the day before," Soul comes and puts his arm around me.

            "Oh come on, they so took it easy on me. You guys took on the Keshin, I can't compare," I smile at Soul and he laughs.

            "Actually you kicked Black Stars butt fair and square, he's a pretty terrible assassin but a pretty decent fighter. You've improved dramatically this past month," Soul gives me a proud look. "And we all loved the moment you asked your cousin to help in training and you kicked his ass the first try."

            "Okay, yeah, that was pretty funny. Even I laughed at that one. Perhaps he needs the training more than I do, especially if he's meant to protect me. Anyways, Edward, I'm glad you and Henry are having a better time as partners," I give them each a hug and wave goodbye as we head down to the gym to continue training. I've almost made it to twice the limit of the first machines we tried out on. I'm honestly impressed with how much weight the private gym's can take. Before getting to weights however, I get on the treadmill for my warm up, then hour long jog. Once I'm done with my jog, which has had its speed increase every day, I work my way up the weights from the lowest to the highest.

            "Wow, how long have you two been here?" Kid walks in and asks me and I laugh as I continue with my weights.

            "Basically since the end of school, it's become her tradition. She sets her own limits and it works wonders. She's almost broken the school record on improvements. Watch, she'll be able to take on big missions by the end of next month," Soul sings my praises and comes over kissing the top of my head. Then sputters.

            "Not your brightest idea Soul, I've been sweating up a storm lately. I will take a bath when we get home though," I smile up and him and he chuckles shaking his head. Kid takes Soul by the arm and drags him to another part of the gym to talk in private. But he wouldn't have done that if it wasn't about me so I listened in using my, as of late, super hearing.

            "She still can't take showers? It's been a month now, Soul. What are you going to do about it?" Kid asks with genuine concern.

            "Nothing. It's not like she doesn't bathe, it's not that big of a deal. She still gets plenty clean and it hasn't interfered with us much anyways. She bathes in the evening, always has," Soul shakes his head at Kid and smiles. "Besides, she's amazingly strong as is. I can't help but be proud of her all the time."

            "Soul, when will you admit that you love her. It's so obvious, you look at her the same way you looked at Maka all those years ago," Kid prompts.

            "Oh shut up. I know that genius boy. But keep quiet about it, I don't want to freak her out by it. She's only been here for a little while. Besides it's not uncommon for weapons to love their Meisters," Soul says, and I almost lose hope.

            "Not like this and you know it. Most the time it's platonic. Our group is just  exceptionally unique in how we fall in love with our partners. Just try it, who knows, maybe she's like us," Kid lightly punches Soul's shoulder.

            "Fine, you're right, happy. I'm completely in love with Scarlet and I can't help it. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Soul looks at kid head on. Neither of them had noticed that I stopped my weights. I ran and jumped into Soul's arms.

            "You big idiot!" I screamed into his chest and he puts his arms around me shocked. I look up at him with a big watery smile. "I love you too." I reach up and kiss him. It didn't take Soul long to reciprocate before he finally pulled away again.

            "Wait, what do you mean too? You mean, you, you heard us?" Soul looks on shocked and I blushed.

            "My hearings improved, and I knew he wanted to talk about me, so I listened in," I give a silly guilty face.

            "I'm not even mad," Soul kisses me once again fervently and smiles at me once we're done. "Come on let's head home. You should take a bath and then we'll eat dinner. Let's see how Edward did today."

            We went home where Edward had prepared our dinner and cleaned up around the apartment. He's been at this for the last three weeks. It took a week of him being at my parents mercy for me to take pity on him and take him into my employ instead. I smiled at Edward upon our arrival. He bowed respectfully and told me he had already prepared my clothes in the bathroom. He's become quite the dutiful servant. If we keep him we may get a larger place so he can be live in. If he's live in, then I'll of course allow his partner to stay as well. I went straight to the bathroom and got in the bath after washing myself in the shower like area that we had installed early last month so I wouldn't have to take another real shower again. I feel it's different if I put it all in a bucket and hit all the gunk first. Besides then I can see the blood or anything else before it lands on me. A while later I got out and dressed. I smile at them as I come out and dinner is on the table. Edward has been improving every day at his cooking skills.

            "So I've been thinking about getting a bigger place, of course only when you're ready Soul. But I think it's a good idea if Edward decides to stay on. Then him and Henry could just stay with us, as opposed to those friends who don't understand their bond anymore. And it would be a good change of pace," I tell them casually before taking a bite out of the steak on the table before me.

            "I actually think that it's a really good idea, Scarlet. We need to put the past behind us, and I feel that is exactly what this apartment is. The past. We'll begin looking and close at the end of Edwards three months so he can decide," Soul smiles at me and winks at Edward.

            "Oh, wow. Thank you Scarlet, and you too Soul. I never thought you'd think so highly of me," Edward responds with a smile and I chuckle a bit.

            "Well, I don't know if we could get on without you at this point. You've improved greatly since you began working here. And if we're honest, we barely cook breakfast as it is. Your leftovers often end up being our breakfast. It's that good, honest," I smile at him.

            "Yes it has improved dramatically compared to your start. I used to have to teach you how to cook. Now, I believe the student has just about surpassed the master. Besides, when else are we going to eat your leftovers. But the fact still remains that we have become comfortable with you here to help out," Soul smirks at his joke in there.

            We all laugh and enjoy our time. Edward calls Henry after his shift is over and Henry practically orders Edward to accept the job, and asks if he could help out. I told him we'd discuss it later. For now we're just looking and nothing is final as of yet. Once Edward says his goodnights and leaves we curl up on the couch and Soul shakes his head.

            "What is it?" I ask him.

            "How are we going to keep Blair out when we move to a bigger place?" Soul chuckles while contemplating.

            "Easy, give her the keys to this place. She has a job, she can pay the rent. If she doesn't like staying here on her own, she can find her own place. But I've put up with her long enough. I even told Edward not to clean up after her so that she won't be too spoiled and might leave," I sigh. "She better leave. She's just so annoying."

            "I know. If I may say, you and Maka, are surprisingly a lot alike yet so different from each other. She was right, I had to move on from her and open up my heart. Who would have thought that you would force it open so fast," Soul kisses the top of my head and we just sit on the couch that night enjoying the peace and quiet as we cuddled and watched TV.

            The next morning I was greeted with frantic knocking on the front door at an ungodly hour. I looked at the clock and groaned. It was two in the morning, even Soul wouldn't be awake, nor woken up, at this hour. I get up and throw on my robe, tying it as I go.

            "Hold your horses, I'm coming," shout at them as I approach the door. Before answering it, I look through the peephole. The person before me is unrecognizable. I had no idea who they were. "Who is it?"

            "Let me in!" the man shouted and I shook my head in exasperation. I know of one way to wake up Soul right now. Only my shout for him would get him up, that or shouts of distress. I go to his room after yelling through the door to give me a minute to be presentable.

            "SOUL!!!!!" I shout loud enough that his mind would register me. He shocks awake and I cross my arms. "It's four in the morning, someone's pounding on our door, and you sleep like the dead. I'm not opening it without you. I don't recognize them."

            "Wait, what? Why didn't you wake me up before going to the door?" Soul asked me exasperated and quickly pulling on some pants. "What if they broke in and hurt you?"

            "You would have heard me and been attacking them before you were even fully awake. I wasn't that worried. Besides, we know some people that would come at this ungodly hour. It could have been one of them. But I'm not stupid so I looked through the peephole. Just come on," I grab his arm and we go to the door. Soul opened it and the man stood there, but he was no longer alone.

            "Took you long enough. But why'd you have to go and wake him up? It would've been much funnier if he woke up with us in his place," the man smirked at me.

            "Free, what are you doing here?" Soul looks at the strange man with an expression of barely contained annoyance.

            "Aww, is that any way to treat an old comrade?" the man apparently named free, reply's. "Besides, luckily for you, I'm not here for hostilities. I hear you new Meister is not quite up to the speed of Ms. Albarn from our early days against each other. It wouldn't be a fair fight."

            "Ok, Soul, can I hurt him? He's beginning to annoy me...more than already," I glare at free. "You do realize what time it is, don't ya buddy? Because I should still be in bed, but you woke my ass up with all of your pounding."

            "Heh, sorry 'bout that. I don't really keep track of time," Free responds and Soul sighs and glances at me.

            "He's immortal. So sleeps not much of an issue for him. Go call Kid to come help deal with this. Then go ahead and go back to bed, worst comes to worst and we find a new place sooner than planned," Soul kisses the top of my head and I grumble as I walk into my room and pull out my mirror phone. I dial Kid's number and the special emergency extension that they taught me.

            "What is it Scarlet? Is everything alright?" Kid asks, seemingly rushing to get dressed and wake up Liz and Patty, all the while talking to me.

            "No. Some asshole named Free came and pounded on our front door, which woke me up at the godforsaken hour. Soul said to call you, and I didn't want to try multiple times. You said this extension always finds a way to wake you up, so I used it," I glare into the phone. "I won't be able to go back to bed at this rate. Not without Soul coming in and saying that it's been taken care of. So hurry your ass up reaper boy."

            "Damn, alright. I'll be there soon. I'll take my skate board with Liz and Patty. Try some tea Scarlet, you do need your sleep, we're pretty used to this bullshit. If you can't by the time we're there, have Soul take you elsewhere to get some rest if we can't get Free out of your place," Kid gets an annoyed look on his face when I mentioned Free's name. "Liz, Patty, we need to get to Soul and Scarlet's place!" The phone clicked off and I sit there waiting for Soul to come in. It took him ten minutes.

            "Hey, what are you doing still up? You should be well on your way to sleep by now. It's just my past come to bite me in the ass, there's no need to worry. Kid's got it taken care of anyhow," Soul takes me into his arms and kisses my head. "You need your sleep, you're really grumpy without it."

            I give a small chuckle. "Blame Free. I'd still be fast asleep if it weren't for him. Damn bastard was really annoying."

            "That he is. But you don't have to worry about him anymore. Here, I'll lie with you until you fall back asleep. Maybe that'll help," Soul smiles and me and gets me comfortable. I smile at him and he lay's on top of the blanket while stroking my hair to help me fall asleep.

            By the time I had to get up for school, Soul was already gone. I stumble back out and we go through our normal morning routine. There was no sign of the disturbance just a few hours ago. On our way to school our friends joined us, Kid included.

            "So what happened last night," I asked to no one in particular. Soul put his arm around me and looked to Kid.

            "Free was asking for a favor, he said that he wants us to add it to his tab. I reminded him he didn't have one and he continued. I brought him to my father. He'll take care of Free," Kid looks down.

            "Kid, it's not like your dad is going to do anything bad to him. He'll take care of this whole favor thing, and we'll be done with it," Liz reminded him and Kid smiles a bit more at that.

            "On a lighter note, me and Scarlet might be moving here soon," Soul puts it out there. "We thought a bigger place would be nice. She wants to let Edward and Henry come with us as live in staff. I'm not opposed to the idea and a bigger place can't hurt as long as it's not too big."

            "Wow that's great! Congratulations," Tsubaki smiles at us and I begin to laugh. All that's happened to me seems like a lifetime ago. Now I'm completely surrounded by those who care, and I'm getting stronger. I'm ready for this next step, one last move for now. Maybe someday we'll relocate elsewhere for work, but for now, that's not the case.

            We all fell into easy conversation. Edward has begun to blend with us at times, but still continues with his old friends. He goes so far as to shut them up when their making fun of me. Henry is continuing to tell their weapons that they don't have to be treated this way. I feel bad for them, but I can't do much, not as I am now. Not yet anyhow. One day, I'll help Meister's and Weapons with their bonds, perhaps that's my calling. To help others in this world, like I had always wanted to in the other.


	11. Chapter 11: New Home

Chapter 11

New Home

 

            When we get to class Edward returns to his friends and I see him smack one of them upside the head and tell him to shut up. I guess Brian is a slow learner. We study more and more of the giant text book given to us in the beginning of the year. Dr. Stein tries dissecting again for class and I end up convincing him that the class needs a break from dissections as not everyone can handle it, successfully preventing him from causing a species to go extinct. I think I saw Death Scythe sneak it free after I did that. The day seemed to go by smoothly...until my cousin got involved.

            "Scarlet, why have you been avoiding me? It's been a month now and you still haven't spoken to me. You only speak to that stupid partner of yours, his friends, and that boy you punished and his weapon. What is going on?" Damian tries to coax me to speak to him but I simply snuff him again and get closer to Soul. Usually that causes Damian to drop it...but he must have been more agitated than usual. Damian growled and reached for my arm, wrenching it back towards him.

            "Ahhh!" I cry out from the pain of being yanked so hard. I collapse against Damian and he smirks down at me before looking up to Soul who is being blocked by Damian's weapon and a couple of his other goons.

            "I'll be borrowing my cousin. We need to have a private chat. We'll also likely be following up with her parents. You should see her again by tomorrow," Damian then pulls me along behind him and I'm in too much shock to fight back at first but I soon began thrashing around trying to break free and calling out for Soul. "It's no use, those friends of yours will be busy for a while to come."

            "Why are you doing this?" I cry and Damian simply chuckles darkly.

            "Isn't it obvious, I don't like your partner. Personally I believe that you should just stay home and become your parents little flower. You'd be much easier to handle in the future that way. I know you weren't aware of this yet, but we aren't just simply cousins dear cousin, we're engaged. Our parents set it up upon your conception. The moment they found that you were going to be a little girl, I was fated to be your husband. Yes, in all technicality you are the heir to the Rosen family. However in all reality, whoever you marry will be in charge. Our parents decided that it would be best to keep it in the family, and of course doing so would be wrong if it was with a sibling so it was determined to be cousins. And thus my life was set forth for me. I have spent the majority of my life hearing about how I'd be the next true head of the family and how I'd get to marry the beautiful little girl of my Aunt and Uncle. But you decided to be a bit difficult to work with. You didn't even drop out when you were doused in blood. Do you realize how much work it was to gather that much blood? It had to be human or it wouldn't be that authentic, but we can't murder because it's wrong. Of course, we lost patience as you made some progress, so our three month plan had to be sped up. Your doppelganger even gave her life for you. It was sad really, Elizabeth was so lovely and obedient. She was also a very good fuck. But I've gotten tired of this waiting around. So me and your parents decided enough was enough. We'll spend the night forcing you to come to be obedient and then tomorrow you'll go to school to announce that you are quitting. It doesn't matter if Soul can't partner with anyone, all that matters is you," Damian tells me all his plans and I simply chuckle. "What's so funny."

            "I'm just realizing that I should have known that the family that only cared about me, while not always having the best methods of doing so, was too good to be true. Newsflash Damian, my old family tried everything that they could to make me their obedient little girl. But the second that I was given the chance I left, I left and I began to fight once again. One problem for you, I was sickly in the other world and they still failed, here I'm strong and even more willful. It would take fifty years to get me to even start being obedient. Even then there is nothing left that you can take from me. Because I do know that my birth parents wouldn't accept my being hurt too badly and would require that I retain some of my personality to the point of not being totally silent. And you can't make me a cum whore, because that can't be the face of a rich and prosperous family. There is nothing that you can take from me...absolutely nothing. So do your worst, but I promise you prissy boy, it's nothing compared to what I've had in the past," I simply glare at my cousin and remain calm before I smirk. "Besides, you're slow when you talk and walk while dragging a supposedly helpless girl behind you." I shock my cousin with my soul and he releases me and flies back a few feet. "Soul is almost here with the rest of them. Since I know absolutely everything except for the finest details, I intend to beat you to a pulp and drop you at my parents’ feet asking for an explanation."  
            "Scarlet!!!" Soul calls out and reaches for me. I reach out to him in return and he transforms. I catch him and spin on my cousin, the others already with their partners in weapon form. "Scarlet, are okay? He wrenched your arm pretty hard back there? What is it that he wanted anyways?"

            "I'll explain later Soul, for now let's just kick his ass," I tell Soul and my friends. They don't speak we simply begin to fight, triple teaming him and he can't keep up. Even after Damian gained his own weapon, we kept kicking his ass.

            After all was said and done Soul, Black Star, and Kid drag him behind us until we get to my parents’ house. We get inside of my parents house with ease and I drop my cousin at their feet just as I promised and told them the gist of what he said, they seemed shocked at everything. I insisted they explained and my parents apologized saying they did wish I would quit the school but decided that it would be too selfish. They never told Damian to do any of those things that he did and that he would be severely punished. I was told that I was in fact engaged to him and that it would hence forth be null void due to today's debacle. I tell them that I can't trust family easily and that he simply made it even harder now. They understood and let us go with no further conflict so I immediately turn to Soul once we're out of there and have a sour look on my face.

            "We need to move soon. I don't need Damian coming to the house next time and taking me in my sleep. There may be nothing that he can take from me anymore, but still. I'd rather not go through unpleasant things again," I tell Soul and he nods putting his arms around me and kissing me.

            "We'll find a place first thing in the morning. But first, you get to explain that little slip up you made. What do you mean by there's nothing left to be taken from you?" Soul questions and I face palm at my own stupidity but sigh and nod. We quickly get home and Soul sits with me in his lap on the couch because all of his friends followed us. I look down and sigh.

            "No offense guys, but this is a bit too personal for me to share with all of you. I'm sure you'll all know eventually, but right now...right now I only want Soul to know. Not even the Star Clan knows this much so I don't think that I can tell all of you right now," I apologize and the rest reluctantly leave. Soul moves me next to him and I keep looking down. He continues to hold my hand in silent support before I finally give in and begin telling him. "Soul, when I lived in the other world, I was tortured by my so-called parents. You already know this, but they went so far as to take what is most precious to any young girl. I lost my virginity. Not a single part of my body hasn't been violated in some way by my older brother and father. Mother would enlist them to help when she thought I deserved it. My punishments would range anywhere from a grounding to that. Each punishment tended to be worse than the last. I'm honestly surprised we haven't dealt with my ever loyal ex-father. But basically, everything from my innocence to part of my sanity was taken from me. I would wish for death and wouldn't give in. I would always think that there had to be something better out there for me. In the end, Soul, you truly saved me. If it weren't for you, I'd likely still be sinking deeper into that dark place. Hell, I could have taken my life by now. To be honest I almost did attempt such a thing, but then you were there, and I knew I'd always be safe," I hide my face with my hair and Soul grabs my chin, tilting my head up.

            "Scarlet, none of that matters any more. All that matters is that you are safe and happy. To me, you're still beautiful, heck your even more so for opening yourself up to me," Soul pulls me into his arms, tucking me under his chin. "I'll always be here for you Scarlet."  
            I spent the rest of the night crying and cuddling. Me and Soul enjoyed some peace and quiet before going to bed, Soul staying with me until I fell asleep.

            In the morning, we left for the relator’s place. It wasn’t long before we began finding suitable places. I quickly weighed my options and went with a six bedroom three and a half bath place with a nice kitchen and wonderful family room. There was a sitting room and even a small office type of room in the new place. It was an overall bigger place that would more than suit our needs. I quickly paid for the place and Soul put down some more money for the first months’ rent. Soon after we went shopping and even went and found Blair telling her we were giving up the old place and that it can be hers by the end of the week if she wants it. She was happy to have access to her old stuff again and we told her we’d give her the keys when we left. We decorated the place in a style that we both liked in most of the space and did our own rooms how we wanted. I even designed Soul’s new piano room, installing sound proofing so he won’t have to worry about playing when others can hear him or not. It was a white space with some black and red accents along with images of souls and some of his favorite classical pieces that I framed decorated the white walls. The piano was a sleek black grand piano and the bench was white while there were seats around the space in red and black sitting on white rugs that softened the dark wood floors that were installed. There was shelving in the room with some of his original works, my original works, and other classical pieces. Once I finished the room I covered Soul’s eyes and lead him into the room. Once in the room I removed my hands and Soul gasped.

            “Scarlet, did you do all this? It’s amazing!” Soul turns around and grabs me spinning me around laughing. He soon puts me down and kisses me. “How’d you do all this?”

            “I had some help. The Star Clan did the rest of the place how I instructed them and I got professionals to install the sound proofing, wood, and painted. I also got movers to bring in the furniture. But then I simply decorated with ease. I thought the wood floors would provide better acoustics, but the carpet would soften it enough for the comfort of you and any of your guests that you may or may not bring in here. I put our music in here as well. I didn’t really do all that much,” I smile at him and he hugs me.

            “You did everything. I can’t believe you did this for me. You have made me one incredibly happy guy,” Soul gives me another kiss and we just stay in the room for the next hour and enjoy some time together, making this new place feel like home.

            Edward comes later and begins his live in work and Henry joins him, the two of them getting along much better than when Edward started this journey of months of punishment. Me and Soul leave the piano room and having discussed it, Soul decided that Edward and Henry would be allowed in there, just not when he is playing. We settle into our routine with Edward and Henry there and have a nice time adjusting to the already easy to adjust to environment. We go to class with no further problems for the rest of Edwards punishment at the very least.


End file.
